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Finland to promote blue bioeconomy in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Publication date 27.6.2016 9.55
Press release

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will convene in Luxembourg on Monday 27 June 2016. Finland will be represented by Kimmo Tiilikainen, Minister of Agriculture and the Environment. Other issues that Finland will be raising for the consideration of the Council of Ministers includes the legal ambiguity of using the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EFF) to fund large projects worth over EUR 1 million.

The General Regulation governing all EU funds requires that any income received from investments by a project developer will be deducted from any aid received. The rule is intended to be applied to public investment projects (e.g. hospitals and roads), which are not supposed to generate net income. Instead, private investments are expected to generate revenue, so an exception concerning private investments has been provided for other EU funds. However, the rule does not currently apply to projects of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

– Large private investment projects are central to the main objectives and perspectives of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, mainly the growth and renewal of the blue bioeconomy sector as well as job creation. Because of this, Finland will be asking the Commission to clarify the current unclear situation and to start the change process for the General Regulation as soon as possible, says Minister Tiilikainen.

Finland is hoping that the matter will be supported as widely as possible. Several Member States have expressed an opinion along the same lines as Finland.

The Council will also discuss the difficult market situation in agriculture. Finland considers the primary support measures for the market crisis to be direct actions focused on producers, but Finland also supports measures that restrict production in order to stabilise the market. It is considered likely that mandatory restrictions on production would have the greatest effect. However, it is probable that any measures can be decided no sooner than the Council meeting in July.

The Council's agenda also includes a review of negotiations on regulating organic production, adopting the Council's conclusions regarding illegal logging and the FLEGT Action Plan, as well as adopting the Council's conclusions on food loss. Finland supports the adoption of both conclusions. Reducing food loss is important for the resource efficiency, profitability and sustainability of the food system. Reducing loss is also important for securing sufficient food and nutrition reserves for future generations.

Inquiries:
Risto Lampinen, Fisheries Counsellor, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, tel. +358 295 162 458, firstname.lastname@mmm.fi
Kari Valonen, Head of EU Coordination, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, tel. +358 40 751 8407, firstname.lastname@mmm.fi

Bioeconomy EU and international affairs Fisheries Food and agriculture Kimmo Tiilikainen