Strasbourg, 18/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - It came as no surprise on Wednesday that a large majority of the European Parliament rejected the proposal for a directive aimed at liberalising port services within the European Union. With the adoption by 532 votes to 120 and 25 abstentions of the rejection proposals submitted by several political groups (Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL, PES, ALDE, IND/DEM), the Parliament said no a second time to the attempts by the European Commission to open EU ports up to competition. In a press release, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot announced that he would suggest the Commission “draw the appropriate conclusions” from this vote.
Visibly bitter during the press conference after the vote, the rapporteur on this issue, German Christian Democrat Georg Jarzembowski, described the vote as “negative for port companies (…) and employees”, that, he says, will not benefit from any legal security in coming years. “I am sad”, he added, hoping that the Commission will be bold enough to begin a “new departure”. Italian national Paola Costa (ALDE), Chair of the Transport Committee, was disappointed but for other reasons, considering that the vote was emotional and should not have taken place. Mr Costa felt it should have been called disgraceful six months ago. His request for the proposal to be referred back to the parliamentary committee was rejected by the Parliament. In a press release, the ALDE Group finally rallied to rejection of the text, and invited the Commission to “conduct a comprehensive consultation process with all parties concerned and to come forward, as soon as practicable, with a White Paper on port activity covering all aspects of competition in the ports sector”.
It was the Left, however, that showed triumph. The EU directive to open port services to competition was “dead”, said German Social Democrat Willi Piecyk, who went on: “It is totally superfluous” as the situation is good in EU ports. Describing the vote as “historic”, Mr Piecyk did not hesitate to point a finger of blame at the Commission as, he said, the content was quite frankly bad, very bad and could not be improved. He concluded by saying that the Commission must assume its responsibilities, the proposal should be withdrawn, and, in Parliament, it is dead. German Green member Michael Cramer said that, although he had inherited this project from Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, Commissioner Barrot is not “innocent” as the project was adopted by the College with “his voice”. “Mr Barrot would be well advised to bury the proposal”, he warned. “The time bomb” of the former Transport Commissioner, Loyola de Palacio has been “defused”, Dutch Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) was pleased to state, saying emphasis should not be placed on liberalisation but on transparency of investment in the sector.
In a press release, the president of the GUE/NGL Group, Francis Wurtz of France, called on his troops to pursue the combat against liberalisation by tackling the Bolkestein Directive, which is on the agenda of the Parliament's plenary session mid-February (Ed.: Gebhardt report). And now, Mr Wurtz said, it is necessary to aim towards the Bolkestein Directive which prolongs and amplifies the same liberal logic as the directive on port services. He says in a press release: “After the success of the rejection of the Ports Bolkestein and four weeks before the vote on the real Bolkestein Directive, our appeal is more pertinent than ever: the conditions for the mid-January victory are showing us the way towards possible success in mid-February. Help us!”.
British Conservative Philip Bradbourn was also pleased. He said: “The UK has escaped a wholly unwanted piece of legislation which would have taken our ports industry back to the 1070s”. “I hope the Commission will heed our opposition and drop these plans once and for all”, he added.
“Today's vote is clear. It leaves no room for doubt as to Parliament's position on this proposal”, Mr Barrot said, about to suggest that the Commission's College “draw the appropriate conclusions. I will also suggest that it continue to work with all the stakeholders concerned (States, operators, users and trade unions), in consultation with Parliament, in order to lay the foundations of a genuine European ports policy which makes it possible to promote and reassure investors”. “I wish to put forward the most appropriate solutions which European ports require on matters such as the transparency of rates, use of infrastructures, the availability of State aid and more generally the inclusion of ports in the intermodal chain”, Commissioner Barrot said, also stressing that one should not lose sight of the objective pursued by this text, namely that of helping European ports to effectively respond to the rise in maritime transport and to the risk of saturation of port capacities.
European Parliament plenary (continued)