Elspeth Attwooll (ALDE). – Mr President, the ALDE Group welcomes the proposal for a regulation but shares the general feeling of regret that we have not had time to submit fully considered amendments to it. It is good, therefore, to hear that the Commission will take full note of the concerns expressed both in committee this morning and in the course of tonight’s debate and that it will negotiate with the Council to make such adjustments as are appropriate.

Two such concerns relate to partial decommissioning, both in terms of whether it will detract too much from the targets for capacity reduction and about the uses to which any subsidies might be put. It would be helpful to gain some reassurances from the Commission in these regards.

As to the two amendments, the first, we think, is effectively already covered by the text. We sympathise a great deal with the second, as we believe it is intended to address the concerns just mentioned, but we feel that it might actually prove counter-productive to capacity reduction. So, rather than vote in haste to promote its inclusion in a legislative text, we ask the Commission to consider the merits of the idea, and also that of developing other measures that place emphasis on the reduction of fuel consumption.

Finally, and on a more personal note, I would point to two sentences in the Commission communication. These read: ‘It is essential that this package is applied in a way that safeguards a level playing field across the Union. There should be no distortion of competition among EU fishermen resulting from the different ability of Member States to mobilise public or Community funding.’ I would endorse the point that has already been made that there should equally be no distortion of competition resulting from the different willingness of Member States to mobilise such funding. I trust that all possible steps will be taken to ensure that each and every one of them with a fishing fleet takes advantage of the opportunities that the regulation offers.