Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-212"
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"en.20051130.19.3-212"2
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".
Mr President, allow me to start by warmly thanking my honourable friends in the Committee on Transport and Tourism, whose comments and amendments enriched the report and the motion for a resolution on the review of the competition rules applied to maritime transport. I also wanted to thank the European Commission for its willingness to cooperate throughout the procedure.
I particularly welcome the initiative to draft the White Paper. It gives us the opportunity to evaluate the current situation and to study the real challenges to European shipping in relation to the competitiveness of the European Union and the Lisbon objectives. That is why the report which I am presenting to you takes account of the proposals in this White Paper and of the demands of the White Paper for transport and the trends emerging in the international environment.
The bone of contention on which my honourable friends focused their attention was scheduled services between ports in different Member States or between the European Union and third countries, especially the conference system. I shall not comment specifically on this, because the Commissioner set the conference framework.
Over all these years the conferences have safeguarded efficient services and price stability on the market, contributing to the development of European and international trade, to the good health – to use the Commissioner's expression – of the maritime industry, providing the opportunity – and this is important to us – for all sizes of shipping companies to participate.
Today, it is right that we should look at the adjustment of the system to new circumstances by revising Regulation 4056/86, a review that will allow flexibility, price competitiveness, stability and quality services and will allow real competition, in that, in one way, it will be protected from the dominion of the oligopolies. There are clear tendencies to merge to create colossal companies which can impose their terms and conditions on trade and industry. The top three European companies account for 35% of the world fleet, while at the same time new maritime powers have emerged, such as China, South Korea and Taiwan. None of the studies presented by the European Commission convinces us that these fears are unfounded, nor have they convinced us of the important benefits which trade and industry might reap from the abolition of the regulation.
My proposal is that the European Commission should not propose the abolition of the regulation and should continue the dialogue with the interested parties, both carriers and shippers. It should propose a review of the existing system, mainly by excluding the facility for freight rates to be fixed directly at the conferences, but allowing indicative prices to be set on the basis of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities and calculating additional loading and despatch charges transparently and following dialogue with shippers.
We also propose, irrespective of the solution selected, that provision should be made for a transitional period which will allow all the factors to be adjusted.
To close, I wish to call on the European Commission to take account, when processing its proposal, of the legal and operational systems which apply in other countries, such as the United States of America, Australia, Canada and Japan, because a deviation in the European system could create destabilising trends at global level and bring about protectionist action."@en1
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