Assarmatori welcomes with satisfaction the position of the Italian Government taken in yesterday’s Council of Ministers of Transport of the European Union, where the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini presented, together with the Ministers of eight other Member States including the Mediterranean maritime countries, a declaration to ask once again the European Commission to monitor in a predictive and preventive way the distorting effects caused by the application of the Emission Trading System (ETS) to the maritime sector.
“Reiterating the appeal already expressed in the Transport Councils of December 2023 and last June – explains the President of Assarmatori Stefano Messina – Italy has drafted and presented a document that clearly highlights the critical issues and risks caused by the recent inclusion of the maritime sector in the ETS. As is known, the Directive does not take into account the peculiarities of the most fragile segments of the maritime sector, creating high risks of emissions transfer, rather than reduction, with consequent loss of competitiveness and business, primarily in container transhipment activities but also in the Motorways of the Sea. The European Commission is monitoring these risks with an inadequate methodology, accompanied by insufficient corrective actions. In this context, Italy and the other signatory States of the declaration have reiterated the need for an effective and predictive methodology to monitor the market, and asked the Commission to intervene by suggesting corrective actions, such as the alignment of the ETS system with future global measures to reduce emissions from maritime transport that the IMO is discussing”.
“In the public debate held in the Council among the Member States – continues Messina – the position of the Nordic countries emerged once again, substantially in favor of the approach adopted by the European Commission, while the widespread awareness among the Mediterranean States of how urgent it is to reverse the course with respect to a fragile methodological approach and the manifest will not to intervene preventively, despite the many alarm bells, is now evident. We consider this convergence positive: for over three years we have been highlighting, at all levels, these critical issues. We thank Minister Matteo Salvini, Deputy Minister Edoardo Rixi and all the political forces that give voice to the requests and concerns of the entire maritime-port cluster for this further step forward in the protection of the sector. It will be essential to concretize the excellent work done so far in the coming year”.
The declaration drafted by Italy was also signed by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
