As the rise in petroleum prices has led waves of protests by European fishermen seeking increases in government aid to offset the rising cost of diesel, the European Commission last month submitted emergency measures that will increase aid to fishermen under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). On 16 July the EU Council, composed of national ministers, approved the emergency measures.

According to the Commission, the package is in line with the 2002 reform of the CFP, which aims to reduce fleet overcapacity.

The emergency measures allow EU Members to provide extra cessation aid to firms, but only as long as the firms have undertaken restructuring plans that will lead to a reduction in capacity.  Additional aid for national Fleet Adaptation Schemes is also provided, on the condition that Members reduce their fleets by at least 30%.

However, other measures appear more contentious; principally, a proposal to study raising the cap on de minimis aid. De minimis aid for the fishing industry had been capped at €3,000 (US$47,000) over three years per firm, but in July 2006 it was raised to €30,000 over three years. 
The Commission proposal considers raising the de minimis cap to up to €100,000 (US$ 157,000) per firm over three years.

The de minimis aid exception sets out the maximum level of state aid considered too small to distort competition, and is therefore allowed without the usual requirement of notification and approval by the Commission. 

Raising the de minimis cap would no doubt raise criticism in some quarters, exacerbating the belief that the CFP has failed to adequately deal with overcapacity in the EU fleet.

 “De minimis subsidies are mostly provided as fuel subsidies – they are a classic example of a bad and short-sighted policy measure," argues economist Anne Schroeer of the environmental group Oceana. "Fuel prices keep on rising and fish stocks are depleted – fuel subsidies and other operational subsidies do nothing to treat the underlying problem of chronic overcapacity of the European Union fleet and instead directly contribute to further overfishing,” 

Around 88% of EU fish stocks are over-fished, compared with the global average of about 25%.