Improving Safety at Sea Draft Report Presented
The Rapporteur of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on Improving Safety at Sea (MARE Committee), Dirk Sterckx, made his draft report on improving safety at sea available this week. It will be presented to the Plenary of the European Parliament on 8 March in Strasbourg, after which the MEPs have until 15 March to propose amendments. The final report is scheduled to be adopted by the European Parliament in plenary on 20 - 22 April 2004. Sterckx was also the Rapporteur who produced the post-Prestige report for the Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism Committee. Both reports are characterised by their balanced view. Sterckx once again emphasises the need for places of refuge…
New EU Transport Committee
Following the European elections of June 2004, the newly elected European Parliament held its first plenary session from 20 to 22 July. During this session, MEPs formally approved the nomination by the European Council of Portugal's Jose Manuel Durao Barrosso as Romano Prodi's successor as European Commission President. The key institutional change on the maritime front is that the former "RETT" Committee of the European Parliament ("Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism) has been split into two separate committees, Transport and Tourism on the one hand, and Regional Policy on the other. This is a positive development for the shipping industry as one can expect members of the new Transport and Tourism Committee to be more specialised and focused on transport issues.
