Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-145"
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"en.20031118.6.2-145"2
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"Mr President, after two and a half years of debates, amendments, demonstrations and votes until well into the night, there is now a compromise proposal before us. Not everyone is pleased with it. The result is a step forward in the European maritime sector. I should like to thank Mr Jarzembowski for the fact that he has still achieved a certain result.
It will not have escaped anyone’s attention that this topic has unleashed strong emotions; that is quite clear from the dockworkers’ demonstrations here in Brussels, and even in Rotterdam. I should like to touch upon those demonstrations. The demonstrators have made good use of their democratic right to inform us as MEPs fully and effectively. I welcome the idea of demonstrating to press home a message. However, it is regrettable if this degenerates into causing destruction, disturbance, threatening people and suppressing other views. I have first-hand experience of the uncomfortable feeling one is left with if one adopts a stance that deviates from theirs. This is very unfortunate. As a result, people are forced into excessive action and mudslinging.
Despite this, something has been achieved – a legal framework that allows for clear and transparent relations between ports, authorities and service providers, with transparency in the use of public funds to finance ports and the agreement to draft a clear guideline on the reconcilability of state support with European law.
Pilotage services have been included after all, together with the option of self-handling, which, to my mind, is too restricted. Shipping companies have acquired more entrepreneurial room, which they need in order to secure a good return on investments. More room means growth and employment. More jobs, that is the best social policy, in general. In Parliament, we have very little say in the quality of the work. We should, therefore, not turn this into our ambition. In the Netherlands, where a great deal of port work is done, progress is being made and industrial peace has been reasonably limited. In order to remove the concerns surrounding the enhanced self-handling possibilities in shipping companies, quayside service providers and trade unions, I have received written pledges from both the Social Affairs Minister and the Transport Minister, our former fellow MEP, Mrs Peijs, that they want to create new policy to put strict guarantees in place to ensure that Dutch labour law is observed in the ports. Pledges of that kind should also be possible elsewhere. In short, we are making progress, and the Liberals will be predominantly voting in favour."@en1
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