The European Commission presented its maritime safety package to MEPs on the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) on Monday 26 June. The MEPs regretted that the initiative did not include more preventive and social measures.
Presented at the beginning of June (see EUROPE 13192/18), this package consists of three parts: - tighter controls; - better fight against pollution; - recasting the mandate of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).
“We adopted, we believe, a measured approach between Safety Enforcement and competitiveness between requirements and support”, emphasised Maja Bakran, the Commission’s Director-General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move).
For Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French), this package could be summed up as “surveillance and punishment”. “You’re proposing a change in surveillance, but I don’t see any change in standards”, he said, noting the lack of proposals on the causes of safety problems and risk prevention.
He also deplored the fact that the only human factor taken into account was human error. “There’s nothing about the pace at which sailors work, which is a shame”, he commented, regretting that “these measures are adapted to the lack of resources”.
The Chair of the TRAN Committee, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, French), agreed: “The green transition will not be possible without strong social measures to support workers and ensure decent working conditions”. She criticised the “social dumping” practised in many sectors, which results in “unacceptable conditions for workers by certain European flags”, lower labour costs and the use of low-cost workers from third countries.
“These practices distort competition between flags; maritime transport is currently excluded from European social progress, and this is unacceptable”, she said. She pointed out that the sector was excluded from the directives on minimum wages (see EUROPE 13188/5) and posted workers (see EUROPE 13146/17). “The Commission must send out a very strong signal”, she concluded.
In response, Ms Bakran explained that it was not safety standards that were lacking, but implementation. “In preparing the new updates, we found examples of Member States carrying out fewer than ten inspections in one year”, she pointed out. Given the capacity issues faced by administrations, the Commission has decided to provide Member States with the necessary tools to make EMSA “some kind of centre of excellence, but also a service centre for our Member States”.
The Commission’s proposal still needs to be translated before it can be examined by the co-legislators. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)