Amjad Bashir (ECR). – Mr President, as MEP of a region with four very successful privatised ports – Hull, Immingham, Goole and Grimsby – I am very disappointed with this regulation. It will impose costly administration on private ports without bringing any added value to them. Its failure to tackle the problem of state aid, as well as all the loopholes inside it, means that it simply will not open up port services to competition.

As has been shown in the Member States which have privatised port sectors, it is competition between ports rather than prescriptive regulation that delivers greater efficiency. As a spokesman on SMEs, I am particularly disappointed that exemptions for smaller ports were removed. It does seem that the Commission has succeeded with its ‘third-time-lucky’ approach here. What a shame it comes at the expense of the port industries of Europe.