Brussels, 30/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - An agreement on port reform is hoped for at the Transport Council on 8 October. Member state delegations are seeking to downgrade the European Commission proposal to liberalise port services and make them more transparent.
The member states are still bitterly discussing this sensitive proposal, for which two previous attempts from the Commission have already been thrown out by the European Parliament. Of the eight port services affected by the draft regulation (shipping supplies, handling, dredging, docking, passenger services, pilotage, towing and waste collection), the Council could possibly exclude pilotage and dredging from the rules on opening up to competition. Handling and passenger services have already been excluded by the Commission. The scope of the legislation is therefore going to be similarly reduced. However, certain of the services excluded from liberalisation could still have to meet transparency requirements as proposed. A European source said that, “it is possible that not everything will be applied to all”. The delegations are hesitating, too, on the kind of text that could see the regulation evolve into a directive. These questions still pending will be discussed at a meeting of member state ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 1 October. Another diplomatic source suggested “a 75% chance” that an agreement can be reached at the Transport Council on this text, which would be a great achievement for the Italian Presidency, which is having difficulty in finding transport dossiers that can be completed by the end of the year. The European Parliament still has to resume debate on this subject. (MD)