The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Corien WORTMANN-KOOL (PPE, NL) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 718/1999 on a Community-fleet capacity policy to promote inland waterway transport.
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs exercised its right as an associated committee in line with Article 50 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, to be consulted to give an opinion on this report.
The parliamentary committee recommended that the position adopted by the European Parliament at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amend the Commission’s proposal.
The Members requested in particular that the Commission:
· support the adaptation of the inland waterway fleet to technical progress as regards the environment, by promoting the use of financial instruments from existing Union funds such as the Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon 2020;
· suggest ways to leverage the reserve funds by means of those existing funds as well as financing instruments from the European Investment Bank.
The measures taken by the Member States should also aim to:
· provide comprehensive information to inland waterway carriers leaving the industry making it easier to obtain an early retirement pension or to transfer to another economic activity;
· provide information on vocational training or retraining schemes for crew members leaving the industry;
· encourage adaptation of vessels to technical progress in order to improve working conditions, including health protection, and to promote safety;
· promote innovation with regard to environmentally-friendly vessels.