mr president today the call is for subsidies for fishermen because of the increase in fuel prices tomorrow it will be farmers and after that lorry drivers and then airline operators and then what about the owners of petrol stations
their profits have gone down because fuel prices have gone up
all of us are suffering because fuel prices have gone up
let us subsidise each other this is all nonsense
it is american pork-barrel politics special pleading for sectoral interests brought into the european parliament
but what this debate does reveal is that while everyone says we should have sustainable fishing policies in practice when it comes down to it some people do not understand the word sustainability
they do not actually know what it means
the commission has made it quite clear that they understand that the fishing industry is not economically viable in some respects but that is not the result of extra fuel prices
it is because of the unsustainable fishing practices of decades
if the market is constrained if fishermen are not able to directly pass on the costs of fish to their consumers then that is something that we should investigate
we should ensure that there is a direct link between the price of fish and the cost to consumers but simply subsidising unsustainable practices is not the way to reduce the over-fishing which has caused the economic problems in the first place
the commissioner told parliament's committee one month ago when mr cadec put this question to her that she was not mindful to support subsidies to compensate for the extra cost of fuel
she has repeated that today and i for one am delighted to hear her words
