European investment in third-country ports
18.1.2024
Question for written answer E-000154/2024
to the Commission
Rule 138
Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (Renew)
On 7 December 2023, the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism approved a resolution on the strategy to support European ports In view of the geostrategic changes seen in recent years and the new legislation on alternative fuels and emissions, the resolution calls for a review of the strategy, that has given rise to support for port infrastructure in third countries.
Investments such as the European backed projects in Damietta (Egypt), Nador West Med or Tanger Med (Morocco) could encourage some operators to redirect shipping so as to benefit from lower labour costs, something that could give rise to carbon leakage. This concern is shared both by managers of the ports affected by these investments and by operators who are weighing up, in this business climate, whether to go ahead with investments already planned in the EU or to transfer them to ports that will compete directly with ours.
Can the Commission therefore say:
- 1.Whether it believes these concerns to be justified?
- 2.Whether this could lead to a change in the Global Gateway strategy to better target its interventions in port infrastructures outside the EU?
Submitted:18.1.2024