Speeches

Madam President, first of all, I wish Commissioner Sinkevičius a speedy recovery. Fighting for sustainable and competitive aquaculture in the European Union is the way forward. Aquaculture provides consumers with sustainable, high-quality products. However, although aquaculture maintains a steady growth rate worldwide, it has not yet reached its full potential in the European Union. The development of aquaculture in the European Union is stalled and we need to give it a boost. Our group cares, and a lot. The People's Party led a report on aquaculture proposing 92 actions, including simplifying administrative procedures, ensuring fairness in interaction with other sectors, improving the competitiveness of aquaculture within and beyond our borders, improving consumer information, better promotion and communication campaigns, supporting research and innovation, and ensuring adequate information. These are fundamental elements and the report we will be voting on tomorrow calls on the Commission to work closely with the Member States to implement these actions. Let's do it like this. Gestures matter too, and we were able to include aquaculture in the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. That was important, too.

Madam President, we are talking about managing the world's oceans and their resources to make them healthy and productive for the benefit of current and future generations. Nothing more laudable, but it must be done in a balanced way. We note how the Commission's action in this context sometimes has perverse and undesirable effects on both EU operators and the environment. I am thinking of something that has already been said: in the Commission’s recent decision to close 87 areas in the Atlantic, where vulnerable marine ecosystems apparently exist – or are likely to exist – but without taking other aspects into account and leading to the ruin of thousands of fishing families and the mooring of important segments of the European fleet. And we cannot accept this. On the other hand, the stricter the measures taken by the European Union for fisheries and aquaculture, the more we depend on imported products and the more our competitiveness vis-à-vis third countries with poor management and governance is diminished. Let's make environmental sustainability possible, but also socio-economic sustainability. That's the challenge.

Madam President, Commissioner, the fifth resolution on Nicaragua and the situation is only getting worse every day in that country. Yesterday we had the opportunity to hear from Felix Madariaga's wife the horror they are experiencing: the Ortega y Murillo regime has long since exceeded all limits; However, in recent weeks we have continued to add and have witnessed obscene images, such as the display of political prisoners in front of the cameras, the repression against free journalism, and now also against the Catholic Church. The capture of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, the most critical voice within the Catholic hierarchy, shows that this despotic regime has no qualms about further deepening the rift with the international community. In the face of this dramatic situation, let's not be naive: We know that the Ortega y Murillo regime is not going to dialogue, as it has already shown on many occasions. We must act with all possible tools and increase sanctions on the regime's accomplices. I reiterate the need to activate the democratic clause of the Association Agreement and suspend any trade agreement with Nicaragua: We have to isolate this dictatorship, it is what is expected of us.

Mr. President, next Monday will be one year since the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on my island of La Palma. For eighty-five days, lava buried homes and roads, razed water infrastructure and crops, and, even worse, ended the dreams and illusions of many palm trees who lost everything. They were also months of solidarity and many promises, but, let us not deceive ourselves, the reconstruction of La Palma will never be possible without those promises, the official ones, being translated into deeds. The Island Council and the municipalities alone cannot; the President of the Government of Spain promised in each of his visits to the island economic aid that not only has not just arrived, but is also insufficient; The same applies to the Government of the Canary Islands and even to Europe, from which only an advance from the European Union Solidarity Fund has been received so far. Palm trees want fair solutions, they need to recover part of their lives; It is the future of an entire island, Isla Bonita, that is at stake: that we don't forget.

Mr President, Commissioner, the resolutions of the regional fisheries management organisations that we are debating today have been agreed after lengthy negotiations, although systematically the Commission's proposal in transposing these agreements tends to go a little further. No one is against taking ambitious measures to manage fisheries. However, ambitious measures must be agreed and implemented by all. EU fishermen should not always be the ones to foot the bill for such overly ambitious and unilateral EU measures. The goal of having an exemplary European fleet is laudable but our fleet is increasingly losing competitiveness. The stricter the measures taken by the European Union, the more we depend on imported products. Agreements in RFMOs should be strictly transposed, ensuring identical conditions for all while promoting the EU’s high sustainability standards for all foreign fleets.

Madam President, I take the floor very briefly before opening the vote because, unfortunately, matters relating to the Committee on Fisheries do not seem to be very important for some groups who, sitting after sitting, deny the possibility of them being debated and given visibility in plenary. Matters as outstanding and substantial as the report that we are now going to put to the vote, drawn up by Nuno Melo. It is urgent to ensure that the fight against the negative impact of the war in Ukraine is included in the objectives of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. The fisheries and aquaculture sectors are crucial in the European Union and therefore the Union must intervene to minimise this impact and ensure the survival of businesses and jobs. The financial package that we are going to vote on will allow the use of additional crisis measures to support the Union’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, make Union funding available to compensate for additional costs, loss of income and storage of products, as well as the temporary cessation of fishing activities, and extend the support to companies that are temporarily unable to continue fishing due to economic restrictions. The final adoption of this legislative proposal will provide much-needed support to fishermen and the aquaculture sector in record time and with retroactive effect, as companies will be compensated for the impact of the crisis as of February this year. The report was adopted unanimously in the Committee on Fisheries and we hope that today it will also be widely supported in Parliament.

Madam President, Commissioner, first of all, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on his work. Africa must be a priority continent for the European Union. We are all aware of the enormous potential of their markets and also of their complex reality and diversity. Africa is growing economically and demographically and has natural resources at its disposal, is increasingly promoting its trade integration and has a road map for reforms for more stable institutional frameworks and greater security. But above all, it must make an effort to lay the necessary political foundations for development. For their part, European companies, and in particular SMEs, cannot be left out of these business opportunities. We must promote trilateral public-private partnerships and, without a doubt, the management of migratory flows must be addressed. Looking at what is happening around us today, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine or China's position in the area, must reassure us that we cannot forget our commitment to this continent. For them and for us.

Madam President, Commissioner, the impact of Brexit on fisheries extends beyond the geographical area of the United Kingdom and has important implications for the entire area of the North-East Atlantic Ocean, as well as for the European Union fleet operating in other parts of the world, such as the waters around the Falkland Islands, Greenland and Svalbard. The geopolitical scenario has changed with the Brexit. Also the governance framework, with changes in the balance of powers and in the relative positioning of all neighbouring countries that share fish stocks in the area. With the departure of the United Kingdom, the European Union has lost its bargaining power over important fishing nations. The result is that some take advantage of the weakness of the European Union, which must be reaffirmed as a guarantor of its fishing interests, in order to avoid any unjustified or unilateral limitation of access to water or resources for European Union vessels in the region. In addition, the United Kingdom, contrary to the spirit of good cooperation, discreetly but systematically discriminates against European Union fishermen by unilaterally introducing new fishing rules. It also refuses to grant access to European Union vessels that have traditionally fished there. All this leads to restrictions on the access of EU vessels to UK waters, contrary to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed. Access to UK waters and access to the EU market are intrinsically linked, and this has been the European Union's approach during the EU negotiations. Brexit. The European Union must be very firm in upholding this principle and, where appropriate, act.

Madam President, Commissioner, thank you for this communication, especially for including fisheries and aquaculture, which, together with the entire seafood value chain, are key sectors contributing to food security in the European Union. Thank you very much. However, the measures envisaged for fisheries are clearly insufficient. For months now, the fisheries and aquaculture sectors have been facing a difficult economic situation. We see with concern how ships from many Member States are mooring as a result of the sharp increase in costs. It is time to execute urgent actions and not beautiful words. Operators need to be compensated for lost revenues or additional costs, storage aid and compensation for temporary cessation of activities. In addition, we need to increase the aid ceiling. de minimis and an increase in the flexibility of year-on-year quotas. Exceptional circumstances require exceptional and courageous measures for agriculture, livestock and also for fisheries.

Madam President, Mr High Representative, Africa must be a priority continent for the European Union. To begin with, they separate us just fourteen kilometers and our interests are not only commercial and economic, but also political, migratory or security. We know it well in the Canary Islands. The European Union now has a great opportunity with the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area to attract more investment, lay the foundations for its necessary industrialisation and job creation for young people. This will depend on our ability to mobilise investments in strategic sectors, trade and more business presence in the region. But none of the above will be possible without stability, institutionality and security. Legal security and also physical security. Commitments must be honoured. And I am thinking of the fisheries agreement concluded between the European Union and Senegal, which has been repeatedly breached. Africa needs investment in R&D. Multinational companies already have a strong presence. The challenge now is to support with more determination the presence of European SMEs. I hope that the EU-Africa Summit will successfully address all these challenges and challenges.

Mr President, the situation in Nicaragua is unsustainable: the continued authoritarian drift directly undermines human rights, democracy and all the values that we stand for in this House. What we experienced in the last fraudulent elections in the country is a new finding of something that we have been denouncing for a long time: the Ortega-Murillos are dynamite Nicaraguan democracy from within, from power, pushing for harsh repression that undermines freedoms; They intend to extinguish them completely and turn Nicaragua, sadly, into an autocratic, communist, personalist and family regime. We cannot stand idly by in the face of the communist challenge that threatens many Latin American countries, we must react and position ourselves with determination alongside the true democratic leaders of the region and civil society that stands firm in the face of the dictatorship of the extreme left; If we don't, more than one state will follow the path of Nicaragua, Venezuela or Cuba. By the way, they contrast the words against Ortega with his position in relation to Maduro, Mr. Borrell. Europe must unequivocally and seamlessly support that this resolution on the situation in Nicaragua includes measures condemning the regime and the permanent violation of human rights and ensure that not a cent of the European Union ends up in the hands of this authoritarian dictatorship, contrary to the principles with which we identify. The European Union must take decisive action: I urge, as we have done on other occasions, to activate the democratic clause of the Association Agreement, as well as the imposition of sanctions against all those who violate human rights in Nicaragua.

Mr President, we are still stronger than the volcano, let no one doubt it, but every day it costs us more; fifty-two days have passed since the eruption of the volcano on my Isla Bonita and there it continues, doing damage to homes, farms and infrastructure, but above all in the spirit of the palm trees: Believe me, listening to the volcano's uninterrupted roar for days and days is hard to bear. Solidarity has been an example in everything, and also the action of the Administrations, but we must take a step further: the aid has to come now, we have to move from words to deeds in Spain and in Europe. The victims need solutions to this catastrophe that has already changed their lives forever and they need them now: bureaucracy cannot be an impediment. La Palma and the palm trees look at Europe more than ever. We will resist, we will continue to be stronger than the volcano, but in this situation Europe cannot fail us.

Madam President, when the volcano continues to roar with force and the lava rivers continue, it is difficult to speak of anything other than survival and recovery. And recovery is what the island of La Palma needs in all areas, also in tourism. The Canary Islands as a whole need the certainty that the European Union must guarantee and La Palma, in particular, urgently needs, in addition to funds, a genuine recovery plan and tourism promotion. We talked about the end of the summer season and the stocktaking of EU actions in relation to the COVID certificate and the recovery of flights during the summer season. But we also have to talk about the winter season, because for regions like mine, the Canary Islands, the autumn/winter season is the real high season for tourism. When the cold reaches the rest of Europe, temperatures in the archipelago do not fall below twenty degrees. Canary Islands is a region that, with more than two million inhabitants, received fifteen million tourists every year. COVID-19 destroyed the sector and we are a long way from being able to recover its pre-pandemic figures. Now we cannot afford the slightest uncertainty. The Canary Islands is a privileged and safe destination. And tourism, an industry that activates the rest of the industries. Just as the lack of capacity of the European institutions to manage and support and renew their industrial and tourism modes has been criticised, we must welcome the creation of a European agency for tourism, whose headquarters would have no better location than the Canary Islands. I am confident that, with the efforts of all, tourism will continue to be the true economic engine of the Canary Islands, and in La Palma in particular, in addition, a guarantee of survival.

Madam President, the volcano that erupted a fortnight ago on my island, the island of La Palma, is ravaging houses, roads, water infrastructure and crops, but, above all, illusions. He's leaving a trail of pain, of broken personal stories, of thousands of evacuees. It is changing the island's own orography, which will no longer be heart-shaped. A heart that palm trees have shown and that has won the solidarity of so many people. Faced with this, we can only react because the worst remains: reconstruction; re-creating a home; continuing to grow the best bananas in the world; to try to live again leaving that nightmare as a sad memory of the strength of nature. That is why we urgently need the help of the European Union. We need to get funds to La Palma that will allow the palm trees to smile again. And I'm sure it will be, and you know why? Because all together we are much stronger than the volcano.

Madam President, my first words must necessarily be of gratitude. Firstly, to the shadow rapporteurs Pierre Karleskind, Manuel Pizarro, Rosanna Conte, Ruža Tomašić, Francisco Guerreiro and João Ferreira. His work has been fundamental. On the other hand, and most especially, I would like to express my special thanks to my colleague Francisco Millán Mon for leading the negotiations during the period when I was out of Parliament. It wasn't easy and he had to work hard to avoid reopening the entire deal and renegotiating this dossier, as some intended. If it had not been for him, surely today we would not be here debating the new Fund. Thank you, Paco! I would also like to express my appreciation to the successive presidencies of the Council that have been involved and especially to the German Presidency, which concluded this long road. Last but not least, my deep thanks to Commissioner Sinkevičius, who has been present at all our trilogues. We have had very tough debates, I recognize, in which we have each defended our position, but most importantly we have been able to reach an agreement. Thank you very much, Sheriff! This agreement is the result of the work of three years of difficult negotiations with the political groups and with the Council and the Commission, and with all the nuances that want to be made to it, today we can say that we have achieved a good agreement. An agreement that, although some – least of all, it is true – want to discredit, satisfies in a nutshell what was my first red line when I took over this report as rapporteur: that our fishermen fish in better conditions, but never fish more. The new Fund, with an allocation of EUR 6 108 million, will contribute to more sustainable fisheries, aquaculture and processing, support a blue economy and coastal communities and promote international ocean governance. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the Fund has been negotiated at an exceptionally difficult juncture, such as the loss of fishing grounds as a result of the Brexit, the paralysis of the seafood value chain due to COVID-19, the difficulties in achieving true generational renewal, the need to provide better conditions for fishing vessels while continuing to fight overcapacity, the need to simplify bureaucracy in order to be able to access these Funds or the obligations stemming from the CFP, such as the landing obligation and reaching the maximum sustainable yield. The challenge was huge and I sincerely believe that we have achieved it. The agreed Fund helps to address these challenges and to achieve increasingly ambitious objectives. The current bureaucracy is replaced by a simplified system that gives Member States the necessary flexibility to plan the needs of their sectors without jeopardising transparency and accountability. Therefore, the future Fund is easy to use. In addition, it is respectful of the rules of the World Trade Organization. It contains no harmful subsidies, no aid for the construction or acquisition of new fishing vessels, no increase in engine power, no direct subsidy for the increase of fishing capacity of vessels over 24 metres and only for vessels up to 24 and exclusively for the purpose of improving safety, working conditions or energy efficiency. And, in addition, a financial ceiling of 15% for the main measures of the fleet. It is environmentally friendly and contributes to achieving the objectives of the Green Deal. We agree that combating biodiversity loss and maintaining healthy ecosystems will require significant public and private investment at national and European level. In addition, the new EMFAF makes it possible to finance investments that improve the energy efficiency, safety and working conditions of EU fishing vessels, while ensuring the sustainability of the sector. It also encourages generational renewal by supporting the first acquisition of vessels by young fishermen. One of the successes of the European Parliament is that the new EMFAF will especially support small-scale coastal fisheries. Member States shall take into account in their programme the specific needs of this fishery. The same preferential treatment is reserved for fishermen without boats and shellfishers. It will also support European aquaculture, encouraging investment to strengthen the competitiveness of aquaculture production, and, in addition, introduces a crisis management plan that will allow support in emergency situations such as those experienced with COVID-19. I would also like to stress, coming from an outermost region such as the Canary Islands, that the final text of this agreement takes into account the specific constraints of these regions and that the current budget for the compensation of additional costs is maintained, which can be supplemented by Member States with State aid through a simplified procedure. In short, the new EMFAF will allow better fishing, not more fishing. It will not prevent the sector from investing in the safety and well-being of workers and in environmentally efficient engines and vessels, and will allow generational renewal, while providing all necessary safeguards to avoid overcapacity and overfishing. Member States already have a simplified Fund at their disposal and can start setting priorities and planning funding. But above all, we have managed to reach an agreement that obliges us to preserve and promote the fragile balance reached between environmental, social and economic considerations.