Groen applaus voor wegstemmen havenrichtlijn

• 2003-11-20

Met het wegstemmen van de Havenrichtlijn komen er nieuwe kansen op sociaal en veiligheidsvlak, vinden de Europese Groenen.

Greens welcome rejection of port liberalisation bill

The Green/EFA group in the European Parliament today welcomed the rejection of the port services directive. The proposed legislation would have liberalised port services and granted unlimited loading rights to untrained ship hands in European ports. MEPs sitting in plenary session in Strasbourg voted by 229 to 209 against the third reading of the Jarzembowski Report. There were 16 abstentions.

Theo Bouwman, President of the Parliament's Social Affairs Committee, said after the vote:
"This is a major victory and a great success. MEPs have rejected the proposed liberalisation of port services which would have had dire consequences for both the social situation of dock workers and for safety and security in our ports."

"Vitally, so-called 'self-handling' will not be permitted at European docks. This would have led to major conflicts between dockers and ship workers. There will now be no problems with self-handling, no problems with ports of convenience and no problems with pilotage."

Belgian Agalev MEP Bart Staes said:

"Port authorities will be relieved at today's decision and the way is now clear for a new directive – which we have always been advocating – on competition between European ports. This is a great opportunity for the EU to start working towards a social Europe, rather than considering only economical and financial progress."