MEPs set out key proposals on fisheries and changes needed to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 

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The impacts of Covid-19 are already hitting the fisheries sector, particularly small scale and artisanal fisheries.

The current situation demands pressing action in the context of the Covid-19 outbreak, beyond the proposal of the European Commission on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), which was insufficient.

Further urgent actions are needed to protect incomes and assure food security, to safeguard the sector, to defend small scale and artisanal fisheries and the sustainable use of oceans.

The proposals of the GUE/NGL MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries for further changes to the EMFF can be found here.

João Ferreira, GUE/NGL coordinator in PECH:

“The response of the EU to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak is far from what the situation demands. The fisheries sector, and particularly the small-scale fisheries, is being severely affected.  The economic and social impacts are significant and urgent measures are needed!

“GUE/NGL is putting forward a set of proposals in order to mitigate these impacts, to assure the viability of small-scale and artisanal fisheries, to address food security concerns and protect fisherman and workers health, within the framework of the sustainability of the activity.”

PECH MEP proposals document