The European Commission launches 2016 Work Programme
The Commission recently launched the Work Programme for 2016. The Danish Shipowners’ Association welcomes the continued and ambitious focus on establishing new trade markets for Europe, but calls on concrete initiatives on trade facilitation.
“Whilst we welcome the continued focus on trade agreements with other world economies and the commitment to continue the fight against human smugglers in the Mediterranean, we also feel that the work programme falls short on the EU’s long-lasting effort to create a true internal market for maritime transport. We had truly hoped that a specific call for a revision of the Reporting Formalities Directive would have been featured as this Directive has proven completely impossible to apply in a positive way,” says Simon C. Bergulf, Director EU Affairs for the Danish Shipowners’ Association.
On 27 October, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, presented the annual European Commission’s Work Programme for 2016 named No time for business as usual. The Work Programme presents 23 new initiatives aiming to deliver the political priorities the Juncker Commission set out last year, e.g. A Reasonable and Balanced Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy, A Stronger Global Actor and A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base.
Furthermore, the Work Programme presents 20 intended withdrawals or modifications of pending proposals and 40 REFIT actions to review the quality of existing EU legislation, meaning actions that will reduce the administrative burdens in certain areas.
The new initiatives on the Energy Union Package, the Follow-up to the Trade and Investment Strategy and a Border Management Package are particularly relevant for our sector.
The Border Management Package will aim at progressing towards a European border and coast guard building on a reinforced Frontex. What such a European border and coast guard consist of is not further elaborated in the Work Programme and will be presented later this year.
The Energy Union Package will affect the maritime offshore industry, since it includes both a revision of the Regulation on security of gas supply and a renewable energy package reducing the administrative barriers to work transnationally in the sector. The establishment of a common Energy Union will improve the possibilities for cooperation and investment in the offshore industry.
The Follow-up to the Trade and Investment Strategy will continue to pursuit the TTIP negotiations with the U.S as well as the Commissions strategical engagement with Asia. The Work Programme stresses that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) with the United States remains a top priority for the Commission in 2016. The Commission plan to step up cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, for example by requesting authorisation to negotiate Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand, as well as opening free trade negotiations with the Philippines and with Indonesia, once the conditions are right.