Commission welcomes Council's backing of EMFF
The Council has backed today the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The EMFF will help implement the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and provide financial support to fishermen, fish farmers and coastal communities to adapt to the changed rules. The Fund will also finance projects to boost 'blue' growth and jobs under the EU's Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP).
This endorsement of the EMFF comes at a right time when the European Commission has adopted yesterday the first of the 28 "Partnership Agreements" that set the strategies in EU Member states and regions for European Structural and Investment Funds, including the EMFF. The first agreement of its kind was signed on May 5th with Denmark and will pave the way for funding of structural policy. Now that the Council has also backed the EMMF, the allocation under Fisheries and Maritime policy will be finalised and published this summer.
On the signature of this first "Partnership Agreement" Commissioner Damanaki stated: "As with all of the other funds, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund is about investing in local communities to help them unlock the sort of growth and jobs which Europe needs and which the EU is committed to making a reality. We will not prescribe how every single cent should be spent; it is about letting those who know their craft, industry, and local regions best to work towards a sustainable future for their own communities – this is indeed the spirit of the new Common Fisheries Policy."
Find more information on the European Maritime and Fisheires Fund as well as on the first Partnership Agreement on using EU Structural and Investment Funds for growth and jobs in 2014-2020. Find also Q&As on Partnership Agreements.
