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A. GlIì17ier: A cOlllpelitil 'e ellt'irOl1ll1elll lò" europea Il shippi17g
The aim of positive measures should therefore not be to hannonise inlra-Europe
but rather lo meet the f1exible intemalional shipping environment.
We \Vould have thought lhal lhe originali\" adoPled philosophv of lhe
Commission to hmmonise support measurcs by Member States or to impose
something on them was the main reason for the delay in ani\ing at
something concrele on the European leve/. This could simply not \l'ork
since the approach on tax issues, social security systems etc. is still differenl
in ali Member States. Il has also been as mislake lo take the intra-EU
competitive position of EU shipping as a :yardstick. y.,.re stressed earlier on
as a kind of "Ieitmoti\'" that shipping is de faclo intemationa/. The vardslick
on competitiveness should therefore clearlv be \l'orld competition.
The measures needed lO fulfil lhese objectiv'es are well-known bv
now; nevertheless, in a broad summing up:
- a l1exible, attractiv'e, and stable tax environment for EU shipping;
- a reduction of overall costs of employing seafarers e.g. through appropriate
income tax and social security relief in order to strengthen the
compelitiveness of the EU shipping industr\", including the attractiveness
of employing European seafarers
- flexible manning possibili ti es in terms of nationality;
- increased emphasis on recruitment and training of seafarers.
This brings us back to Stale Aid Guidelines. We do realise it is noI an
easy subject but, nevertheless, such guidelines should be lransparent and
should contain prm;sions to address the risk of inlemational distortions of
competilion and, consequently, noI be solely inward EU looking. They should
offer to EU shipping a stable fiscal and operaling cost framework witrun with
EU shipo\\TIers can build up their operations \vithin a long tenn vision.
Although perhaps superfluous to say, there should be a distinction bet",een
aid lo shipping and generaI schemes and State Aid falling outside
the scope of aid to shipping industry, such as aid to shipbuilding.
The breakthrough: the Kinnock strategy paper
This Commission Communicalion of March 1996 (7) offered a ne\\'
approach on support measures for EU shipping by abandoning the previous
ideas 00 harmonisatioo aod by recognisiog that the competitive
markel for shipping \Vas noI Europe but a global market. The strategy paper
also advocated support measures for EU shipping but left it lo Mem-
(7) COM(96) final of 13.03.1996 Commission Communication "Towards a ne\-\'
maritime strategy".
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