Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-18-Speech-2-175"
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"en.20031118.6.2-175"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Belgian system of port services is functioning to everyone’s satisfaction. Neither the port authorities, nor the employers, nor the dockers are looking to change this system. It was achieved via social dialogue and, if necessary, is adapted via social dialogue to the situation of the various other Belgian ports. This social dialogue offers employers a guarantee that their requirements, too – as regards employment, social services, safety and quality – will be included in a social agreement. One result of this system is that the port of Antwerp is number one in conventional loading, and that is the most labour-intensive loading activity. Antwerp has earned that ranking despite the fact that its dock work is perhaps a little more expensive than in other ports, but, on the other hand, this dock work is very productive, very safe and of excellent quality. The shipowners are not demanding a different system.
How is the EU’s involvement perceived by the Belgian port authorities, the dockers and the Belgian politicians? In the first place, they do not see in it any improvement for them. The reverse is true. They are seeking in the Directive possibilities of preserving the present system as far as possible via Belgian legislation. Secondly, they find that all of this is being arranged a long way from their home territory. They are accustomed to proceeding via social dialogue. Thirdly, they believe that the Directive was based on the ports where the regime is least strict, where poorly organised, poor-quality dock work is carried out. Commissioner, the correct procedure would have been to subject European port activities to compulsory authorisations regulating the most important elements in the field of the social framework, safety, training, organisation of work and environment. A compulsory system such as this would have not only made self-handling possible, but also offered guarantees of a stricter operating procedure in all the European ports. The ports that already have effective regulations and a safe system are actually being penalised in favour of the much laxer attitude of other ports. We should have gone in the opposite direction. For all of these reasons, I shall be voting against the Directive: out of conviction. I am a confirmed European, but, in this dossier, European intervention is moving in the wrong direction."@en1
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