Port services: market access and financing of maritime ports

The Commission agrees with and supports the common position, adopted by the Council, as it respects the key principles, doctrine and structure of its proposal. Moreover, as explained above the common position takes largely into account the European Parliament's first reading. At the moment of the adoption of the Common Position the Commission made the following statement to the minutes of the Council: The Commission points out that it will address the issue of competition between ports, in the nearest future, by introducing an amendment to the Transparency Directive so that ports covered by this Directive will equally fall under the Transparency Directive and by issuing a document on public financing of infrastructure and State aids. The Commission will continue to work on maritime safety, recalls in particular the recently published package in safety of passenger vessels and will take the appropriate measures on security. It will continue to take appropriate initiatives in short sea shipping and intermodality, recalls the recent Marco Polo proposal and the guide on Customs procedures in ports for Short Sea Shipping. The Commission recalls its recent Communication on Training and Recruitment of Seafarers and will look into other social aspects of the industry on the basis of information from Member States and industry.�