Brussels, 15/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 15 January, work had still not begun on the liberalisation of port services, although the Council already has a negotiating mandate on this subject (see EUROPE 11170). Rapporteur, Knut Fleckenstein (S&D, Germany), is awaiting clarification from the European Commission on state aid to ports. The EP's work on the ports package is expected to start from scratch, in order to allow the new MEPs the opportunity of presenting amendments. Nonetheless, no timetable has as yet been set out so that the rapporteur can present a new draft report. One source close to the dossier mentioned that this could be in February or even in March. The main reason for these delays and indecision could be down to the lack of clear information from the Commission regarding state aid to ports. Some MEPs are afraid that initiatives in this field by DG Transport or DG Competition could, at this stage, make their work superfluous. They will need to avoid obtaining an agreement on a text that would possibly need to be decided later by DG Competition, explained the same source. Several investigations have been opened by the Commission on the issue of state aid to ports. (MD)