The European Parliament adopted by 620 votes to 20,
with 34 abstentions, a legislative resolution 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.
Parliament adopted its position at first reading under
the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted at
plenary are the result of an agreement reached between the European
Parliament and the Council. They amended the proposal as
follows:
Through their amendments, the co-legislators
stipulated that the measures taken by the Member States should seek
to:
- make it easier for inland waterway carriers leaving
the industry to obtain an early retirement pension or to transfer
to another economic activity, inter alia by providing comprehensive
information,
- organise vocational training or retraining schemes for
crew members, including workers and
owner-operators, leaving the industry and
provide appropriate information about those schemes,
- encourage adaptation of vessels to technical progress
in order to improve working conditions, including health
protection, and promote safety,
- encourage innovation in respect of vessels and their
adaptation to technical progress as regards the environment,
including environmentally-friendly vessels,
- encourage ways of leveraging the use of the reserve
funds in conjunction with available financial instruments,
including, where appropriate, under Horizon 2020 and the Connecting Europe Facility,
and with financing instruments from the European Investment
Bank.