Spain, Italy, Portugal join French fishing strike over fuel prices
Pastor Dale Morgan
Spain, Italy, Portugal join French fishing strike over fuel prices*
AFP - Saturday, May 31
MADRID (AFP) - - Fishermen from Portugal, Italy and Europe's largest
fleet, Spain, began open-ended national strikes Friday, adding to
growing continent-wide protests at the soaring price of fuel.
French fisherman have already been on strike for two weeks, disrupting
cross-Channel ferry traffic and blocking oil facilities.
Organisers of the actions in Portugal and Spain claimed a 100 percent
response to the strike call, whilst more than 10,000 Italian fishermen
joined the strike, according to unions.
"Compliance is total. The entire Spanish coast is at a halt," said Jose
Caparros, a spokesman for the fishing industry in Barcelona.
The rapid rise in the price of oil has pushed up the cost of marine
diesel by around 30 percent since the beginning of the year, causing
trawler owners to warn they face bankruptcy without increased subsidies.
"This is the worst crisis in the industry in 100 years," said Javier
Garat, the secretary general of the Spanish Fisheries Confederation.
The snowballing protests appeared to be having some effect, as a Spanish
government official announced that Spain, France, Italy and Portugal
would jointly propose an EU fund to help the fishermen hardest hit by
the price rises.
The proposal will be presented at a meeting of the four countries in
Madrid next week.
However the EU Commission on Friday demanded the power if necessary to
reduce existing fish quotas, a proposal likely to further anger the
fishing industry.
Currently, annual variations are only allowed to go up or down by 15
percent, but starting from 2009 the commission would like to be able to
lower quotas by more than 25 percent for species or zones particularly
at risk of overfishing.
Several thousand fishermen from across Spain, as well as some from
France, Italy and Scotland, also protested outside the Ministry of
Agriculture in Madrid, where they handed out 20 tonnes of fresh fish to
alert the public to the problems they faced.
In Portugal, "no single boat has gone out," said Antonio Macedo, leader
of the national federation of fishing unions.
Antonio Miguel Cunha, from the association of Portuguese trawler owners,
said the action would continue until a fair resolution had been reached.
"From now on, there will be no fresh fish," Macedo said. "The only fresh
fish on sale Friday in the whole of Portugal is dated from Thursday."
Between 11,000 to 12,000 Italian fishermen also went on strike,
according to Alessandra Fabri, spokeswoman of the largest fishing union,
Federcoopesca.
Italy's Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia meanwhile promised a series of
measures for his country's fishermen to mitigate the soaring price they
pay for diesel.
The measures are due to be unveiled in the next few days, after
contacting his opposite numbers in other EU countries to inform them of
the moves, Zaia said.
"Extraordinary, concerted action is needed at European level," he added,
pointing to a June 23 meeting of EU ministers to discuss the crisis.
In France, which has been at the vanguard of the protests, trawlers
staged an eight-hour blockade of the Channel port of Le Havre and also
sought to close an oil depot on the Mediterranean coast.
The European Commission had said Thursday it was "following the evolving
situation very closely so as to be able to respond as necessary."
However, EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg stressed that fuel subsidies
were not an answer to the industry and would only exacerbate
overcapacity in the face of dwindling stocks.
"Fuel subsidies, besides being illegal, would do absolutely nothing to
deal with the underlying problems," he said.
"On the contrary, they would serve only to perpetuate the problems of
the sector and make the crash even greater when it comes."
EU member states can currently give fishermen a subsidy of up to 30,000
euros (47,000 dollars) over a three-year period without seeking European
Commission approval.
But French and Spanish fishermen consider this too low and have demanded
additional help.
The French government last week announced 100 million euros in immediate
aid.
On land, Bulgarian bus drivers held a one-hour stoppage, whilst the
country's truck drivers were into the fourth day of their protests,
following similar demonstrations by English and Welsh truckers earlier
this week.
In France, the National Truck Drivers' Federation (FNTR) said there
would be protests in five regions on Saturday and Monday, whilst the
National Taxi Drivers Federatoin (FNAT), meeting in La Rochelle, warned
of "new, widespread protests" if there was not a reduction in fuel taxes
for their members.