Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-146"
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"en.20011114.7.3-146"2
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".
The generally-worded title of the Community directive before us conceals an important step towards the privatisation of ports, especially the services which they provide, such as pilotage, towing and docking ships, loading and unloading and storing goods and moving passengers. The aim is not to improve the port services provided; it is to sell off yet another publicly owned sector to big business and hand a complete infrastructure over to the private monopolies so that they can make use of and profit from it. The unavoidable consequences will be a reversal in labour relations and rights and a tragic drop in safety standards for workers, for passengers on board ships and in the services provided.
We want to stress from the outset that we are opposed and completely reject both the directive and the Jarzembowski report. We refuse to be party to a line of thinking that accepts privatisation as inevitable and endeavours to rescue a few individual services. On the contrary, we steadfastly support the argument for public port services and ports whose operations are integrated into an overall development plan which develops the potential of each country, supports the economy and employment and guarantees the safety of human life in port and at sea. These are highly sensitive issues for Greece, with its large number of island complexes and its sovereignty in the Aegean, a sensitive area from the economic, social and national security standpoints. We would also point out that multipurpose ports such as Piraeus, which support and serve the shipbuilding and repair industry, can only do their job efficiently if they remain in the public sector.
This endeavour is more than infuriating or provocative. It is an attempt to intervene in the operational unit itself, that is, the port, and to prohibit it from doing what any enterprise does, that is, from operating as a single entity. It breaks up and imposes internal competition between services provided by the same service provider. At the same time, the directive talks about prerequisites for ‘public services’ but leaves them at the mercy of the private sector.
The Communist Party of Greece is fighting, alongside the workers, for uniform, 100% public-sector port services, so that they are able to operate, develop and connect with other sectors of the economy. If we want properly operating ports, safety, coordination and development, we need to support a single, vertically-integrated service, with each activity helping and supporting the other. Otherwise, the smooth and efficient operation of the sector will be at risk, any attempt at coordination will be doomed to failure and safety will be thrown to the winds because it will be subject to the laws of profit and competition and will have to rely upon the goodwill of the enterprises.
That is why we voted against the Jarzembowski report."@en1
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