Under the public consultation process that took place until May 18, the Government of the Azores has conveyed to the European Commission the assessment on the European Fisheries Fund (2007-2013) and the future European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) after the year 2020.

In the document submitted, the Azorean Government replies to the general survey conducted by the European Commission and recalls that the provisions of the EMFF Regulations, in force in the period 2014-2020, amend the framework of specific support for Outermost Regions (ORs); "the latter is detrimental to these regions is most cases."

In this context, the Government points out several situations to which the European Commission should pay "special attention," including the EMFF co-financing rates of EMFF, the intensity of support for certain types of investment and beneficiaries and the new regulatory framework for  Compensation Plan for Additional Costs of Fisheries in Outermost Regions (POSEI-Fisheries), commonly known as POSEI-FISHERIES.

With regard to the EMFF co-financing rates, the Government mentions that, contrary to what was established for other European funds, the EMFF Regulations do not foresee any increase in co-financing rates for Outermost regions. It also stresses that "EMFF is the European Structural Fund and Investment with the lowest co-financing rate applicable to Outermost Regions in the period 2014-2020 and there is no reason to justify it."

The Regional Government also notes that the intensity of support for companies that do not fall into the small and medium-sized companies and for the replacement of engines has been substantially reduced, adding that "the regulatory provisions of EMFF do not provide any specific exemption for Outermost Regions".

According to the document, in the period 2007-2013, Outermost Regions have benefited from exceptions that allowed them, on the one hand, to apply the maximum intensity of public aid in all types of operations, and, on the other hand, to prevent any limitation to business support depending regardless the size of beneficiary companies.

The Government of the Azores also criticises the fact that the compensation plans for POSEI-Fisheries in Outermost Regions have ceased to be autonomous programs with their own management and financial line. In this context, it points out that, unlike what happened with the sector agriculture for similar programs, it was decided to include these plans in national operational programmes financed by the EMFF.

At the same time, specific regulation was created for the form of presentation of POSEI-FISHERIES, but specific implementation rules have not been set; the latter are subject to the common and specific implementation rules stipulated for the European Structural and Investment Funds and EMFF.

As an immediate consequence, the Regional Government regrets that potential beneficiaries, in particular Azorean fishers, have not received any kind of support since 2014.

In this regard, the Azorean Government defends that "the specific nature and goals of the aid granted under these plans, which have no parallel in other measures of EMFF, would lead us to believe that these programmes would retain their autonomy, an option that should be reconsidered from 2020."

The Regional Government also points out that "this option is contrary to the specific goals of these plans, which are designed to mitigate the effects of the permanent constraints affecting fisheries and aquaculture in Outermost Regions and will not bring any significant contribution to the arguments that ground it."