The European Union has decided to deprive Latvia of fishing industry in order to help Russia?

Latvia is literally in shock: without the extremely bad budget of this Baltic country is at risk to become hole-ridden … The matter is that one of these days the European commission has obliged essentially to reduce the catch of brisling, sprats and salmon in the Baltic sea.

Farewell, the well-known Riga sprats! The fishing fleet of Latvia is threatened in general with full breakdown: the aspiration of the country to show the fidelity of EU and the NATO, the basis of foreign policy of which was the confrontation with Russia throughout last 20 years, leads in practice to new shocks for ordinary Latvians.

As usual, Europe motivates such decisions with care of ecology. Since 2008 the plan on “balancing of the forces of the Latvian fishing fleet in 2008 - 2013 years” has started to work. According to it, they sent about 70 vessels to scrap metal till 2013. Still then the Minister of Agriculture of Latvia Martins Roze, acting on the commission of Seim on affairs of Europe, has offered the Latvian fishermen to carry the tourists to Rukhnu Island ….instead of fish catch.
There is even a document under the name “Program realization of actions on support of introduction of the European fund of fish industry in Latvia for 2007-2013 years”. And the first priority direction calls as “actions on fish fleet balancing”. And “action 1.1” sounds as “Full termination of fishing activity”.

According to the rules of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia accepted on May, 2008, the state and the European Union support “cutting (including cutting on scrap metal) of fishery vessels”. However, their donation or sale “for the use in other purposes which have been not connected with fishery” is possible. And those trawlers which provide the fish catch in commodity quantities, namely the length of which is at least 12 meters and capacity of the engine from 75 watt should undergo to destruction. Considerable money is spent for it — 12 150 241 lats.

It is well-known that Latvia has lost many citizens in the result of rough activity or imitation of that activity. The general loss of the population of Latvia from 2004 (on May, 1 is the date of the entry to EU) till 2011 inclusive (taking into account the preliminary data of population census) is 419,2 thousand persons or 18,1 percent. The decrease of population of Latvia at the expense of a natural decrease (excess of quantity of death over quantity of newborns) has made 69,6 thousand persons or 3 percent. Latvia has lost the rest 15% or 349,6 thousand persons because of departure of the population for earnings in the European Union countries.

The interdiction of fish catch by the Latvian fishermen will lead to that more tens thousand qualified Latvians will add to these people, including those who now works for the present not only on fishing vessels, but also at the enterprises for processing of fish.
Certainly, Latvia, being a component of original club of EU, should observe the rules. But there is one more state adjoining to the Baltic Sea – it is Russia which isn't a member of EU. The decisions don't extend on it and it will catch fish so much and how many it want.

The position of the management of Latvia surprises extremely, which to the extent of poor possibilities to struggle for national interests, recklessly follows a course of so-called “European integration” which actually leads to more and more increasing outflow of the population from our country. Thus Latvia loses the huge market of Russia which now actively participates in formation of a zone of free trade in common with the CIS countries. On the threshold there is the creation of the huge Euroasian Union which could become the huge market for our fish …

I will remind that at the time of the USSR the overwhelming part of fish production of Latvia went to other Soviet republics and they didn’t hear about unemployment in fish industry of the country at all. On the contrary, constantly there were no people and every year the new vessels went to the sea. Now it is all in “damned” totalitarian past.

It seems that the management of Latvia “has so jammed” on integration with Europe that it is ready to offer the last Latvian if only to merge in one ecstasy with EU and the NATO …