Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-03-Speech-1-096"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060703.15.1-096"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, within the framework of the European Union's common shipping policy, shipping conferences have been set up as a form of union of regular line shipping companies with a view to controlling the strategic and profitable sector of maritime transport.
Consequently, it is vital to maintain the exemption provided for in Article 32(b) of Regulation No 1/2003. That is why we propose Amendments 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 in this direction. In addition, the anti-grassroots Regulation No 3577/92 urgently needs to be abolished for coastal shipping. Maritime transport is a social necessity which cannot be satisfied within the framework of an anti-grassroots competition policy.
These are similar in form but less advanced than the pools of chemical shipping companies which were set up later. Shipping conferences regulate the lines of ships' round trips, the ports they put into, the number of ships available for each line and the freightage charged.
The argument that shipping conferences have supposedly brought about better and cheaper services for the workers is unsubstantiated. Inflation, poverty, unemployment, poorer and more commercialised services are the harsh reality which workers have to put up with.
Shipping conferences were developed for the transportation of raw materials and in international trade in general, mainly between the northern European shore and shipping monopolies, and they secured huge, astronomical profits for euro-unifying capital. Today, the same business groups are calling for shipping conferences to be abolished and the European Commission agrees with this.
The aim of the new legislative initiative is obviously to strengthen competitiveness, expand the insulting privileges of the euro-unifying monopolies engaged in maritime transport and allow them carte blanche to increase their profits.
Today, the concentration of capital in this specific sector has advanced to such a degree that basically a few companies, which can be counted on the fingers of one hand, control transport on regular lines. Typically, one European container transport company operates 550 ships while, by contrast, a similar Asian company operates 112 ships. To talk of competition under these circumstances is pure hypocrisy. We do not agree that cabotage should come under competition rules, just as we do not agree with Regulation No 4050/86 or Regulation No 3577/92.
The reactionary institutional framework for shipping, the anti-grassroots policy of the European Union is strengthening the implacability and insatiable lust of shipowners for profit and is creating serious political and social problems in Greece, France, Finland and Ireland. Of course, the Council and the European Commission, in collusion with employers, are pushing them towards the European Court of Justice. The point is that they will have to face them because the workers are not prepared to sell out their rights.
Unequal pay for equal work, a heavier workload for maritime workers, the fact that ticket prices and freightage have gone through the roof, the reduction in schedule frequencies and the system of keeping overly old, under-maintained ships in coastal shipping are typical of domestic maritime transport. The application of the anti-grassroots Regulation No 3577/92 has already struck a heavy blow to maritime transport and caused serious problems for workers, passengers and residents, especially in isolated island regions.
Maintaining the exemption of maritime transport conducted solely
between ports of the same Member State from the application of the competition rules is of strategic importance to the economic development, social cohesion and national defence of these countries."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"(at this point the President asked the speaker to speak more slowly for the benefit of the interpreters)"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples