14115755226622The claim of Fuerteventura has allowed it to be reformed to 2015 and within the current POSEI the 'Measure 3.3. 'Aid to support the goat and sheep sector', going from the current 6.4 million euros to 7.2 million in 2015.

The President of the Cabildo de Fuerteventura, Mario Cabrera, and the Minister of agriculture, Livestock and fisheries, Rita Díaz, together with the representatives of the Fuerteventura livestock breeders platform, They met with the president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, to coordinate the contributions of the proposal to reform the distribution of European resources of the POSEI initiative, for the benefit of the sheep and goat livestock sector 2015 that the Government of the Canary Islands must send to the European Union.

Mario Cabrera and Rita Díaz insisted on the importance of the unity achieved in the livestock sector of Fuerteventura, which has allowed us to coordinate positions, first on the island, and then transfer them to the Government and for it to send them to Europe.

They also remembered the commitment of the Government of the Canary Islands, not only to advance this substantial change, but to progressively recover in several annuities what is owed from previous years of the additional POSEI. Also trusting that the State will do the same and recognize this debt by contributing its 50%.

Rita Díaz highlighted that the work on the POSEI reform was undertaken a long time ago, always in a coordinated manner. “We act at the European level, which is still pending for a more in-depth reform that was pending in the new Parliament. But also at the local level, with redistribution within the current structure, which is what is now proposed for 2015”.

The objective of the approaches defended by the representation of Fuerteventura, lies in the fact that this reform proposal in the distribution of POSEI for the next year must increase the participation of the sector in European financing.

The Government of the Canary Islands will now prepare a technical proposal that will be consulted with the sector next week. It will include a proposal for the redistribution of POSEI resources with effects already in 2015, which allows increasing European resources allocated to sheep and goats.

In this way, “aid to the sector will not depend so much on the additional funds that the Government of Spain and the Canary Islands have to provide, and may be subject to budget variations, "But they come directly from Europe's fixed amount.", recalled Mario Cabrera. All this within the current POSEI structure, while trusting that the EU reactivates the pending reform.

The claim of Fuerteventura has allowed it to be reformed to 2015 and within the current POSEI the 'Measure 3.3. 'Aid to support the goat and sheep sector', going from the current 6.4 million euros to 7.2 million in 2015.

14115755227284Also within the 'Measure 3.6 'Aid to the producer for the consumption of dairy products made with goat and sheep milk of local origin', includes point '3.6.1 Aid to the dairy industry' with around 1.8 million euros (46 EUR per tonne). And in point '3.6.2 Aid to the dairy producer' a total of 4.7 million euros of community financing and the rest up to 5.7 million euros of additional financing (to 144 EUR per tonne).

The POSEI establishes specific measures in favor of the agricultural sector in the outermost regions of the European Union, on the basis of the obligations established in article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

All of this, because taking into account the economic and socio-structural situation of the outermost regions of the Union, aggravated by its remoteness, insularity, reduced surface, topography, adverse climate and its economic dependence on a small number of products, specific measures are necessary for the implementation of common policies, like the Common Agricultural Policy.

POSEI covers special measures to guarantee the supply of essential products and to support local agricultural production in the Canary Islands, Azores, Madeira and the French overseas departments of meeting (Guadalupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Mayotte). The annual budget currently allocated to POSEI programs in the EU is 653 million euros.

The European Union launched at the end of 2013 a process of in-depth reform of this POSEI, to which Fuerteventura presented a proposal supported by all the institutions and groups of the primary sector, which is currently paralyzed by the recent European elections. Fuerteventura also demands that this reform be reactivated and its demands be taken into account..