The Initial 40 Years of the EC Maritime Policy, Part I: 1957-1997: Is EU-27 Maritime Industry “Fit for 55”?

Abstract

We showed the 6 European nations, in 1957, (on the initiative of France & W. Germany), to form European Community-EC. This was the vision of Robert Schuman, a spiritual child of Jean Monnet. France put the 3 claims of its Revolution (1789): Liberty-Fraternity-Equality... But why EC-6 failed to form a Common Shipping/Maritime Policy for 28 whole years (till 1985)? Eight facts compelled Commission to design a CSP/CMP, taking 8 years (1973-1981). Our concern today is for EU-27’s future, given that UK exited and Poland may too… A war over Ukraine...? We presented the factors uniting the member-states, and those dividing them. Solidarity and equal wages & salaries remain 2 un-uncaught dreams. The threats now: from 22m of immigrants, the falling apart environment, the energy crisis and the dependence on Russian natural gas, among 5.5m dead from COVID-19, are the 5 major future problems for EU-27. We presented analytically, and with a critical approach, the 4 steps that EU-15 took for a common shipping/maritime policy (1985-1996). The 1st step produced 8 regulations (EC-10) concerning: cargo reservation, maritime safety, ports and cabotage. The 2nd (EC-12) drafted the regulations 4055-4058. The 3rd created the “positive measures” (EC-12). We presented the reaction of the “Hellenic Chamber of Shipping” (1989) to them. The 4th formed Commission’s “strategy”…which…failed to make EU-15 fleet more competitive & boost the employment of the EC-12 seamen! The comments of ECSA—(European Community Shipowners’ Association) also presented concerning “the Strategy”. Last, but not least, and more recent, was that EU-27 maritime industry has to become fit for 55% less carbon emissions by 2030, since 2008, which sounds impossible, as nobody paid particular attention either in COP26, or in MEPC 77 (2021)!