With a view to drafting an own-initiative report, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) discussed the creation of a comprehensive European ports strategy on Monday 26 June. In their view, ports have been overlooked in European strategies and are suffering from intra-European competition.
The rapporteur, Tom Berendsen (EPP, Dutch), set out the reasons for his forthcoming report. “I see this as a continuation of the discussion on the influence of foreign powers in our ports”, he said, describing ports as “the gateway to Europe” to which “we have given the keys to foreign powers here and there”. He mentioned the fact that foreign powers, notably China, hold shares and are on the boards of some major European ports, such as Hamburg and Rotterdam.
“Ports are crucial in our everyday lives for important exports, energy hubs, the goods we use daily”, he continued.
The other MEPs agreed with him. Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) and Kathleen van Brempt (S&D, Belgian) regretted that ports did not feature in the European Commission’s communication on the European strategy for economic security and critical infrastructure (see EUROPE 13205/7).
“The terminals and all these other companies operating in ports for the economy and for the green transition are specifically important and we need to protect the existing port infrastructure better so that smaller ports don’t have to shut down”, defended Bergur Løkke Rasmussen (Renew Europe, Danish), calling for political, public and private investment.
For Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, French), who spoke on behalf of her German colleague Jutta Paulus, “the port strategy must also be optimised to minimise the carbon footprint, in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement”. She also called for “better port coordination”: “It’s time for ports to stop competing with each other”.
João Pimenta Lopes (The Left, Portuguese) denounced the liberalisation of the port sector. “We need to reverse this approach by guaranteeing investment and modernisation of ports”, he stressed. In his view, putting an end to the outsourcing of services and introducing efficiencies in ports will enable countries to assert their sovereignty.
Mr Berendsen confirmed the need for better cooperation between Member States and to resolve intra-port competition. He also wants to avoid sabotage and espionage risks.
In response, the Commission representatives stated that ports were indeed part of the EU’s critical infrastructure strategy, both from an economic and military perspective. “Investment in ports are huge and all investment from all sources is most welcomed, but it is clear that we need to defend our strategic assets”, commented one of them. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)