Brussels, 26/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The new report of the European Commission's examination the "revised" strategy against South Korean shipyards unfair practices (see EUROPE yesterday page 15) has raised a number of reactions. In a press release published Thursday, the Committee of European Shipbuilders and Repairers Association (CESA), attacked the procrastination of the Commission and emphasised the decline in this sector in Europe. CDU MEP, Werner Langen complained that the new report on the Commission's study into unfair trading practices was apparently initially only going to be submitted confidentially to Member States, which he described as "incomprehensible and counter productive. He said that it had been common knowledge for a long time that South Korea had pushed European shipbuilding to "the edge of ruin" by its trade practices and price dumping. Mr Langen asserted that European shipyards for tankers needed aid, especially in Germany,. The German MEP explained that this aid should be provided a national rather than at a European level and that it should not be on a permanent basis but that it was the only way to put pressure on South Korea.
The "revised" strategy couuld figure on the Commission's meeting agenda next week (30 April), which intends examining related issues, notably the fifth report on the global situation in shipyard construction.