RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union and of the Member States, of the Protocol amending the Agreement on maritime transport between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the government of the People's Republic of China, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union

7.3.2019 - (05083/2015 – C8‑0022/2019 – 2014/0327(NLE)) - ***

Committee on Transport and Tourism
Rapporteur: Francisco Assis

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union and of the Member States, of the Protocol amending the Agreement on maritime transport between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the government of the People's Republic of China, of the other part, to take account of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union

(05083/2015 – C8‑0022/2019 – 2014/0327(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the draft Council decision (05083/2015),

–  having regard to the draft Protocol amending the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Government of the People's Republic of China, of the other part (05880/2015),

–  having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article 100(2) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C8‑0022/2019),

–  having regard to Rule 99(1) and (4) and Rule 108(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

–  having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A8-0168/2019),

1.  Gives its consent to conclusion of the Protocol;

2.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of the People's Republic of China.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

In accordance with the Act of Accession of the Republic of Croatia[1], Croatia will accede to the agreements concluded or signed before the accession of Croatia by the EU Member States and the Union with one or more third countries by means of a protocol to those agreements.

The Council decision of 14 September 2012 authorised the Commission to open negotiations with the third countries concerned, in order to conclude the relevant protocols.

The Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Community and its Member States and the Government of the People's Republic of China was signed in Brussels on 6 December 2002, concluded by the Council Decision of 28 January 2008 and entered into force on 1 March 2008.

Under the Consultation Procedure, applicable at that time, a draft European Parliament Legislative Resolution was adopted by the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism on 8 July 2003 by 26 votes in favour, 12 votes against and 1 abstention (A5-0254/2003). It was fully adopted by the European Parliament on 02 September 2003(P5_TA(2003)0357).

The main objectives of the Agreement are to:

•  Strengthen and consolidate the relations, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, in the field of international maritime transport;

•  Recognise the importance of maritime transport services and wishing to promote even further multimodal transport involving a sea leg in order to increase efficiencies in the transport chain;

•  Recognise the importance of further developing a flexible and market-oriented approach and the benefits to economic operators of both Parties of controlling and operating their own international cargo transport services in the context of an efficient international maritime transport system.

On 1 July 2013, the Republic of Croatia acceded to the EU and became its 28^th Member State.

The Protocol was signed in Brussels on 21 December 2018 and the Council made a request for a Parliament’s consent with the conclusion of the Protocol on 7 January 2019.

The Protocol will make the Republic of Croatia party to the Agreement and provide for the necessary ensuing linguistic adaptations.

The Protocol will not introduce any changes to the substance of the EU-China Agreement.

In accordance with Article 99 (1) of the Rules of Procedure amendments in committee shall be admissible only if they aim to reverse the recommendation proposed by the rapporteur.

completion of the ratification process of the Protocol, and it also contributes to the continued safeguarding and development of the Union's trade relations with the People's Republic of China.

On the basis of the above-mentioned your Rapporteur suggests that the TRAN committee should give a favourable opinion on the conclusion of the Protocol.

• [1]  OJ L112, 24.04.2012, p.21.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Protocol amending the Agreement on Maritime Transport between the European Community and China to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union
References	05083/2015 – C8-0022/2019 – COM(2014)0692 – 2014/0327(NLE)
Date of consultation / request for consent	4.1.2019
Committee responsible        Date announced in plenary	TRAN 14.1.2019
Rapporteurs        Date appointed	Francisco Assis 9.12.2014
Discussed in committee	29.1.2019
Date adopted	4.3.2019
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	33 0 0
Members present for the final vote	Marie-Christine Arnautu, Inés Ayala Sender, Georges Bach, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Deirdre Clune, Michael Cramer, Andor Deli, Isabella De Monte, Ismail Ertug, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Innocenzo Leontini, Peter Lundgren, Gesine Meissner, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Gabriele Preuß, Dominique Riquet, Massimiliano Salini, Claudia Schmidt, Keith Taylor, István Ujhelyi, Marita Ulvskog, Peter van Dalen, Wim van de Camp
Substitutes present for the final vote	Francisco Assis, Matt Carthy, Jakop Dalunde, Karoline Graswander-Hainz, Pavel Svoboda, Matthijs van Miltenburg, Henna Virkkunen
Substitutes under Rule 200(2) present for the final vote	Eleonora Evi, Michael Gahler, Ricardo Serrão Santos
Date tabled	7.3.2019

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

33	+
ALDE	Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Gesine Meissner, Matthijs van Miltenburg, Dominique Riquet
ECR	Peter van Dalen, Innocenzo Leontini, Peter Lundgren
EFDD	Eleonora Evi
ENF	Marie-Christine Arnautu
GUE/NGL	Matt Carthy
PPE	Georges Bach, Wim van de Camp, Deirdre Clune, Andor Deli, Michael Gahler, Dieter-Lebrecht Koch, Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar, Massimiliano Salini, Claudia Schmidt, Pavel Svoboda, Henna Virkkunen
S&D	Francisco Assis, Inés Ayala Sender, Isabella De Monte, Ismail Ertug, Karoline Graswander-Hainz, Gabriele Preuß, Ricardo Serrão Santos, István Ujhelyi, Marita Ulvskog
VERTS/ALE	Michael Cramer, Jakop Dalunde, Keith Taylor

0	-

0	0

Key to symbols:

+  :  in favour

-  :  against

0  :  abstention