Subject: European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2014-2020 in the Region of Apulia
The fisheries sector (including fishing activities, aquaculture and processing) is of great economic importance for Italy as a whole and especially for Apulia with
1. 1511 fishing vessels (Fleet Register, 2019)
2. and 64 aquaculture facilities,
3. employing 3 300 people (ISTAT, 2016)
4. and earning EUR 291.5 million from fishing and aquaculture.
The Apulian fishing fleet is the second largest in Italy and its aquaculture derives from an ancient tradition of mollusc farming and, more recently, fish farming. Over 56 % of the Apulian fleet is engaged in small-scale fishing.
The Operational Programme was approved by the Commission under Implementing Decision C (2015) 8452 of 25 November 2015.
2014-2020 EMFF appropriations earmarked for Italy amount to EUR 537 262 559 with EUR 440 845 123 in national funding, bringing the total to EUR 978 107 682.
Of the EUR 89 million allocated to Apulia to date, only EUR 27 million has been committed, which means that, by the end of the year, the region stands to forfeit around EUR 20 million that could be decommitted.
In view of this:
1. What action does the Commission propose to take in response to the failure by Apulia to meet its spending targets?
2. What action will it take to ensure immediate take-up and more rapid deployment of the funds?
Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (17 January 2020)
Pursuant to Article 6 of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Regulation (EMFF) (1), Italy implements a single EMFF Operational Programme (OP). The Italian authorities have delegated part of the implementation and its budget allocations to Intermediate Bodies (IB) in various regions, including the Apulia region.
It is the responsibility of the EMFF Managing Authority (MA) to define the framework of responsibilities and obligations of IBs, to verify their capacity to carry out the delegated tasks and possibly to set up their specific targets of expenditure. It is therefore up to the MA to ensure the implementation of the EMFF OP from all IBs, and not the Commission’s prerogative to take any actions at region level.
The EMFF OP as a whole met its target of expenditure for 2018. The Commission is monitoring closely the OP modification and is working closely with the Italian EMFF MA to reduce the risk of not achieving the target for 2019.
The Commission is monitoring the situation through regular contacts with the EMFF MA, such as its participation in the Monitoring Committee and the conduct of the Annual Review Meeting. The Commission is providing concrete advice to the EMFF MA for the corrective actions needed to improve the implementation rate of the OP. In addition, the Commission is constantly collaborating with the MA to quickly address all issues affecting implementation.
⋅1∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.149.01.0001.01.ENG | | ( | | )