§ Mr. HoodTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Fisheries Council held in Brussels on 22 November; and if he will make a statement. [99748]
§ Mr. MorleyThe Fisheries Council met in Brussels on 22 November. I led the UK delegation, accompanied by my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson), Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs in the Scottish Executive.
The Council agreed a regulation for financial aid to fisheries under the reformed EU Structural Funds, which provides for seven year funding programmes and sets conditions for payments. Grants for renewal and modernisation of the fleet may be paid only if the member state has met its overall fleet capacity (MAGP IV) limits. Where the relevant segment of the fleet exceeds 118W its capacity target, the member state must withdraw 30 per cent. more vessel capacity than is grant aided. While these new controls are not as rigorous as I would have wished, they are a welcome innovation, establishing the important principle that grant aid should contribute towards improving the balance between fish resources and the capacity of members states' fleets. There will be a review in 2001 providing an opportunity to make any changes necessary as a result of decisions at the expiry of MAGP IV.
The Council reached a political agreement on a reform of the fisheries marketing regime subject to the opinion of the European Parliament. The new regulation will provide lower tariffs for imports of fish which are important for our processing industry, while recognising the need to protect the interests of our catching industry in the import terms for sensitive species such as herring and cod and more generally by including provision to deal with serious market disturbance. After a transitional period it will reduce the costs of the regime.
The Council received a presentation on a draft Regulation to establish a Community framework for the collection and management of data needed to conduct the Common Fisheries Policy. This will return to the Council after detailed examination. The Commission reported that on 20 December there would be a meeting with the Moroccan Minister of Fisheries to take forward the EU:Morocco negotiations. There was an initial discussion of means of implementation of the new control arrangements adopted by the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission; arrangements for 2000 will be considered at the next meeting of the Council on 16 and 17 December.