PARIS (Reuters) - France has asked the European Union for permission to give money to fishermen who are blockading ports in protest against rising fuel costs, Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said on Tuesday.
Fishermen resumed their blockade of roads leading to thecountry's largest oil port, Fos-Lavera near Marseille, unionsources said, while radio reports said about 20 ports on theChannel, Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts were affected.
Port workers at Fos-Lavera were also on strike over aseparate issue, the government's plan to reform ports. Oilindustry sources said five oil tankers were blocked fromloading or unloading due to the strike.
"The tools I have prepared to help the fishermen must beapproved by Brussels, it's essential," said Barnier, who wentto Brussels for talks with EU officials on Monday.
He is due to meet on Wednesday with fishermen who aredemanding help to cushion the effects of marine diesel fuelprices driven higher by record oil prices of more than $125 abarrel.
An official at the EU Commission said it was examining theFrench proposals and had approved some of them, but the entirepackage would have to be given the green light and that couldtake several days.
The government had announced a three-year aid package forfishermen worth 310 million euros (246 million pounds) inJanuary and Barnier suggested the handouts should beaccelerated to help fishermen cope with the dramatic increasein fuel prices.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a letter to a bodyrepresenting commercial fishermen that the government hadcontributed 53 million euros to help fishermen and promised toadapt the aid package in light of the fuel crisis.
Oil giant Total said its refineries were operating normallybecause they were well-supplied and the disruptions atFos-Lavera were sporadic.
"The strikes and blockade have not affected our operationsfor the moment," a spokesman said.
Fishermen were blocking three fuel warehouses used by Totalbut the company said this had not hurt its supplies to petrolstations.
"The fuel warehouses at La Rochelle (western France),Port-La-Nouvelle and Fos-sur-Mer (southern France) are allimportant ones but we've been able to use other ones to supplypetrol stations," the spokesman said.
(Reporting by Muriel Boselli, Elizabeth Pineau,Jean-Francois Rosnoblet, Mathilde Cru and Thierry Leveque;Editing by Janet Lawrence)
