Towards a future Maritime Policy for the Union: a European vision for the oceans and seas

The European Parliament adopted the initiative report, by 530 votes for, 25 against and 61 abstentions,  by Willi PIECYK (PES, D) in reponse to the Commission’s Green paper “Towards a future maritime policy for the Union: a European vision for the oceans and seas”. The main issues highlighted in the report are as follows:

Climate change as the greatest challenge to maritime policy: the Parliament stresses that the EU must play a leading and pioneering role in combating climate change through at least three policies: (i) the emissions from ships of substances such as CO2, SO2 and nitrogen oxide must be drastically reduced; (ii) the feasibility of emissions trading for shipping must be carefully assessed; (iii) renewable energies such as wind and solar power must be introduced and promoted for shipping. The Commission is urged to propose legislation in order to effectively reduce maritime greenhouse gas emissions and the EU is urged to take decisive action to include the maritime sector in international climate conventions.

Better European shipping with better European ships: the Parliament considers that shipping has a considerable environmental cost, and therefore a sustainable balance between environmental protection and economic use of Europe’s oceans is essential, whereby guaranteeing sustainability must be an absolute priority. It calls on the Commission to safeguard this balance when designing its (future) proposals on maritime and port policy. Recognising that ship-source air pollutant emissions will exceed those from land-based sources in the foreseeable future, the Commission and the Member States to take urgent measures to cut emissions from the shipping sector and for the Commission to come forward with proposals: (i) to establish NOx emission standards for ships using EU ports; (ii) to designate the Mediterranean Sea and the North-East Atlantic as Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) under the MARPOL Convention; (iii) to lower the maximum allowed sulphur content in marine fuels used in SECAs by passenger vessels from 1.5% to 0.5%; (iv) to introduce fiscal measures such as taxes or charges on SO2 and NOx emissions from ships; (v) to encourage the introduction of differentiated port and fairway charges favouring vessels with low SO2 and NOx emissions; (vi) to encourage the use of shore-side electricity by ships when in port; (vii) for an EU directive on the quality of marine fuels.

MEPs believe that the exclusion of seafarers from social directives should be reviewed by the social partners reviewed by the social partners. They note that fishermen and seafarers are excluded from EU social legislation in many areas and they call on the Commission to reconsider these exemptions in close cooperation with the social partners. The Parliament calls on the Member States and ship-owners to enter into a partnership for the training of quality seafarers and officers, as is successfully being done in Denmark, and, through their education and training policies, to increase their knowledge of and enthusiasm for maritime heritage and provide additional incentives for activities and professions linked to the sea. It also calls for the introduction of a European quality label for ships, in line with the IMO white list classification scheme, meeting the latest safety standards and social conditions, which will give those ships favoured treatment with regard to port state controls. The Commission is urged to provide support at WTO level for European shipyards, which are continually exposed to unfair competition from Asian shipbuilders.

Better European coastal policy including better European ports: the Parliament encourages regions and Member States to use cohesion policy instruments in order to achieve further integration in maritime and coastal policy, promote entrepreneurship and set up SMEs, thus helping to overcome the problem of seasonal employment. Member States and Commission, in view of the air pollution in many port cities and regions, to significantly to increase incentives for land-based power supplies to ships in port when this is cost-effective and results in environmental benefits. A revision of Directive 2000/59/EC on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues is called for so that all ships calling at a Member State's ports would discharge 100% of their solid and liquid waste.

The importance, within a holistic maritime policy, of developing and implementing an integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) policy covering the multiple uses of the coastal zones and their impact on development policies is stressed. The Parliament calls on the Commission to take action to control pollutants (environmental pollution of the seas) arising from agricultural runoff, sewage or industrial effluents and litter often plastic, which can choke sea mammals, turtles and birds.

Integrated fisheries policy: the Parliament takes the view that fishing activity must contribute to the maintenance of viable coastal communities. It stresses that for this to be achieved inshore, small-scale fishing interests and recreational anglers must be given access to fisheries, and that such fishing activities encourage tourism, protect our rich coastal heritage and help to keep our seaside communities together. It also calls for increased efforts to end the disgraceful by-catch and discard problem which is a key consequence of the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas regime of the CFP.

MEPs highlight the increasing socio-economic significance of fish farming as marine fish stocks diminish worldwide and they believe that the worldwide annual sale of aquaculture products will soon exceed the sale of wild catch.

Maritime research, energy, technology and innovation: the Parliament calls for maritime research to be enshrined in the EU’s Seventh Framework Research Programme as a crosscutting theme and as a key topic for future framework research programmes and urges that the oceans’ potential contribution to solving Europe’s energy problems be included as the main focus of research, which must be encouraged. The Commission is called upon to draw up an offshore wind energy action plan embodying an efficient European approach to offshore technology. MEPs call for a continuing integrated approach to European maritime policy in the future. This should include at least regular coordination meetings of the relevant Commissioners and regular public exchanges of views with the other stakeholders, for example in biennial conferences. Future Council Presidencies are called upon to include maritime policy in their work programmes and the Commission is also called upon to indicate annually all EU-funded projects with maritime relevance.

Lastly, MEPs are convinced that the precautionary principle, as embodied in Article 174(2) of the Treaty, must form the basis of all types of exploitation of the maritime zones of the EU. They stress that a lack of scientific certainty should therefore not be used as an excuse for delaying preventive action; believes, on the other hand, that haste as regards preventive action should not prevent the use of scientific information. Moreover, they call for the creation of a budget line entitled 'Maritime policy: pilot projects' to promote pilot projects seeking to integrate various systems for the monitoring and surveillance of the seas, collate scientific data on the sea, and disseminate networks and best practices in the field of maritime policy and the coastal economy.