Question écrite de
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Commission européenne
Subject: Support for tuna importation in the Azores
In the Azores, around 20 tonnes of Tuna are canned each year in a sector that employs about 900 workers. It is therefore a key sector, creating jobs and wealth for a region whose operational costs are, because of its double insularity, much higher than for any other industry in mainland Portugal.
The European Union is currently paying a subsidy of EUR 240 per tonne of tuna imported for industrial processing. Paradoxically enough, however, the subsidy is only EUR 56 per tonne of locally caught tuna.
How does the Commission explain this disparity, which is encouraging tuna importation to the detriment of local fisheries and what action will it take to place the tuna canning industry at the service of development in the Azores?
Answer given by Mr Vella on behalf of the European Commission
(8 May 2019)
In the framework of the compensation plans adopted according to Article 72 of the regulation (EU) No 508/2014 (1), the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund may support compensation of additional costs incurred by operators in the fishing, farming, processing and marketing of certain fishery and aquaculture products from the outermost regions.
The Member States implement and pay the compensation set out in the compensation plans. In the case of Azores and in particular for tuna, the compensation to be granted is EUR 240 per tonne for tuna of regional or Community origin delivered to the local processing industry.
According to the compensation plan and the information received from the Managing Authority for this regime in Portugal, there is no distinction as to the origin of the tuna, provided that it is caught by Union fishing vessels registered in a fishing port of the European Union.
⋅1∙ Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, OJ L 149, 20.5.2014,
p. 1‐66.