Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-10-Speech-2-305"
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"en.20070710.54.2-305"2
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".
Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in its maritime policy the European Parliament is entering uncharted waters. Five committees worked on the report, and achieved respectable results. I would like to begin by extending my heartfelt thanks to my co-rapporteurs MrHassi, Mr Stevenson, Mr Chatzimarkakis and Mr Matsis for their collaboration. My thanks also to the members of my staff, Mrs Jordan and Mrs Schramm – as well as the stagaire Jan, who did some good research work – for without staff this report would have been practically impossible to make.
On the issue of marine research: in the European Union we have excellent institutes, but they are not linked with each other. For this reason we need a blanket organisation, a European marine science consortium, with strong backing from the Commission.
Madam President, far be it from me to moralise, but it is an indisputable fact that the sea does not need us, but we need it. And this being the case, we need a good, integrated European marine policy. For that reason we will measure every Council Presidency by the progress it makes in marine policy.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us just get an idea of the position as regards maritime policy: 90% of the European Union’s external and 40% of its internal trade is carried by sea. 40% of Europe’s GDP is generated in coastal areas. About two-thirds of all Europeans prefer holidaying by the sea, and coastal tourism in 2004 earned EUR 72 billion in revenue. But coastal tourism presupposes clean seas. This makes it clear that it is necessary – indeed, it is a
that the EU not only formulate, but implement an integrated maritime policy.
It is to the Commission’s great credit that with this Green Paper it has brought maritime policy on to the European agenda. However, the paper is frequently vague and descriptive, rather than specific. After a year of consultations, what we need is fewer conferences and more measures, more concrete political actions, as Goethe said, ‘A truce to words, mere empty sound, let deeds at length appear, my friends!
Commissioner, if tomorrow we approve the report, the Commission – and of course the Member States – will have plenty of work on their hands. My staff have done the calculations: the draft report contains 80 recommendations for the Commission and the Council. If we draw these together broadly, there will still be 33 bundles of measures which we expect the Council and the Commission to implement in the future.
Today I would like to focus on a few important areas, such as shipping. We expect the Council to approve seven legislative measures on maritime safety without delay: state port inspections, emergency moorings, liability after accidents, amongst others – and these are addressed to the Portuguese Presidency alone. There is a peculiar anachronism in that Europe still views short-haul voyages as international trade. For this reason, coasting must finally be integrated into the single market. On the issue of motorways of the sea, since the adoption of the trans-European networks in 2004, we have not made an inch of progress. The Commission must appoint a coordinator for this to finally get things moving.
Combating climate change: although marine transport is comparatively the most eco-friendly means of transport, it is not squeaky clean: it contributes to 4% of world CO2 emissions, and also produces large quantities of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. I am certain that emissions trading in shipping is something we will have to face up to. An even more important issue, though, is to drastically reduce marine emissions and at the same time to use renewable energy like wind and solar power on vessels. This also provides European shipbuilding and its suppliers with huge potential for growth. And, by far not least important, LeaderSHIP 2015 is about the future competitiveness of the entire industry.
Maritime climate policy also involves our, wherever possible, providing vessels in port with power from the land, which also involves implementing the Commission’s long overdue action plan on promoting offshore wind energy.
And on the matter of employment: if the maritime sector complains that young people are unwilling to embark on maritime careers, we should ask ourselves, how actively were these careers promoted in the past? For this reason we need an education campaign. It is also right and proper, though, that those employed on vessels should not be second-class employees.
About marine pollution: 100% of waste from vessels must be removed in port. Illegal discharges of oil must be combated. At the same time, however, because 80% of marine pollution is caused by waste originating on land, we need a concrete action plan form the Commission to provide aid for this."@en1
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