B4-0393/95

Resolution on prospects for the future development of the shipbuilding industry

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Council Directive 90/684/EEC of 21 December 1990 on aid to the shipbuilding industry (( OJ L 380, 31.12.1990, p. 27)), as last amended by Council Directive 94/73/EC of 19 December 1994 (( OJ L 351, 31.12.1994, p. 10.)),

- having regard to the proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Agreement respecting normal competitive conditions in the shipbuilding and repair industry (COM(94)0460),

- having regard to the answers from the Commission and the Council to Oral Questions B4-0153 and 0154/95,

A. whereas over the last 15 years the European Union's shipbuilding industry has experienced drastic cuts in production capacity; whereas, since 1988, the implementation of the Directive has resulted in a substantial reduction in aid to shipbuilding in the Union (from 23% to 9%),

B. whereas the ageing of the world's merchant fleet has increased the environmental and economic dangers and thus created an objective need for it to be modernised,

C. whereas inadequate safety standards, especially under flags of convenience, have been largely responsible for preventing this need from coming to light,

D. whereas since 1976 the number of persons employed in Union shipyards has fallen from 273 000 to 84 000,

E. whereas this reduction in capacity has resulted in the virtual disappearance of the industry in certain Union Member States, such as the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands,

F. having regard to the harmful effects which the restructuring of this industry has had on economic and social activities in certain regions of the Union,

G. whereas the EU, which is still one of the most powerful trade blocks in the world, should lead a maritime policy aimed at maintaining a sufficiently high and competitive production capacity in the shipbuilding sector,

H. whereas the agreement concluded within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between the leading countries in this sector does not include any aid to shipbuilding, except research and development aid and social assistance relating to shipyard closures, and does not deal with increasing production capacities,

I. whereas newly industrialized countries such as South Korea are expected to increase their production capacity by approximately 100% over the next few years and whereas this calls for intelligent regulation, in a spirit of solidarity, of future world demand through consultation with industrialized countries,

J. having regard to the serious consequences (e.g. fall in prices, job losses and the danger of closure of shipyards currently in operation) which the introduction of new production capacities could have worldwide and Union- wide in a sector which is already suffering from a production surplus at world level and in which a high level of objective demand is being prevented from coming to light,

1. Regrets that, despite the considerable economic and social implications of this agreement, the Council did not consider it necessary to consult Parliament on the subject;

2. Requests the Commission and Council to submit automatically to Parliament agreements regarding shipbuilding in an OECD context;

3. Emphasizes, in this respect, the Maastricht Treaty's 'democratic vacuum' in terms of Parliament's involvement in democratic scrutiny of the common trade policy, a problem which will need to be solved at the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference;

4. Believes that the OECD shipbuilding agreement can only be ratified if the Commission, as a negotiating party, gives its interpretation in order to avoid legal loopholes; in any case the agreement should entail a total commitment for each contracting party;

5. Asks that the agreement be submitted to Parliament for assent pursuant to Article 228(3), second subparagraph, of the EC Treaty, in view of the consequences of the OECD shipbuilding agreement for EU competition and competitiveness and the EU budget;

6. Recalls that respect for the principles of solidarity, equity and international responsibility of each producer country is a prerequisite for establishing fair and balanced market conditions for all parties;

7. Considers that the implementation of the agreement concluded within the OECD on normal conditions of competition has not entirely solved the problems relating to the future of EU shipbuilding, since it does not prevent plans for increasing production capacities from harming other countries, and stresses that this agreement would remain worthless if such capacity expansion plans were not accompanied by appropriate measures to regulate implementation of the objective requirements on the world market;

8. Believes that the Union should not allow further reductions in capacity to take place to the benefit of its rivals;

9. Believes, instead, that the Union's strategy should be to strengthen cooperation in the interests of all in this sector so that the Union can draw benefit from any upturn in demand at international level;

10. Calls on the Commission to be vigilant with regard to use by third countries which are signatories to the agreement of indirect or disguised aid and social and environmental dumping strategies which might distort international competition in this sector by circumventing the agreement's provisions;

11. Also calls on the Commission to remain vigilant with regard to general compliance with the OECD agreement, in the light of the fact that Union shipyards have only one year in which to prepare themselves for the new situation, and to extend the current Directive in the event of the agreement not being complied with by the majority of the signatory countries;

12. Expresses the hope that the Union will play a particularly active role in arbitration groups responsible for dealing with conflicts;

13. Calls on the Commission to draw up details of all the objective requirements for modernising the merchant fleet and any protectionist strategies, state aids and other forms of support for shipbuilding applied in third countries and the Union;

14. Calls on the Commission to draw up also a study on the economic and social implications for the European Union of application of the agreement, and to submit it to the European Parliament before 1996;

15. Calls on the Commission to implement a strategy to oblige the South Korean authorities to observe their duty to show international solidarity by discouraging Korean producers from increasing the production capacity of shipyards and to raise this matter during the negotiations on the trade and cooperation agreement with Korea;

16. Calls on the Commission, with the support and close cooperation of ship owners, ship builders, port authorities, sub-contractors and both sides of industry to establish a strategy of industrial cooperation aimed at strengthening the competitiveness and capacity for cooperation of the sector by:

(a) identifying new needs and future commercial outlets,

(b) organizing research and development programmes in line with future requirements and advanced technology activities,

(c) stepping up training at all levels;

17. Emphasizes the need to adopt as soon as possible a regulation on a specific Community social programme with accompanying measures to assist workers who have been or are about to be made redundant;

18. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Council and to Parliament, by 30 September 1995, specific proposals for implementing the principles set out in this resolution;

19. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the OECD Secretariat and the European Association of Shipbuilders.