A meeting held at SEA Europe with the Director-General of DG MOVE, Magda Kopczynska, addressed the next steps for the European Industrial Maritime Strategy and for the forthcoming Maritime Industrial Value Chains Alliance.
A first conclusion: continued advocacy at national level remains essential. Although the European Industrial Maritime Strategy is widely regarded as a political success, the European Commission stressed that SEA Europe and its national members must keep promoting the interests of the maritime industry at Member State level, as not all Member States are yet convinced of the need for a solid, sector-specific support framework for maritime. This is particularly important in the context of the ongoing negotiations on the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework, which will set the Commission’s budgetary resources for the next seven years.
A second conclusion concerns the future of the partnership within the „Waterborne” Technology Platform. DG MOVE indicated that the current co-programmed partnership on zero-emission waterborne transport (cPP ZEWT) may not be renewed under the next Horizon Europe programme, with the number of European partnerships expected to be significantly reduced. Despite explicit references in Commission strategy documents, the „Waterborne” partnership does not appear on the current list of partnerships proposed for continuation, and the Commission encouraged stakeholders to consider appropriate political outreach and advocacy actions.
A third theme was the call for contributions to the Maritime Industrial Value Chains Alliance. At this stage there is not yet full clarity on the themes and workstreams, and DG MOVE encouraged SEA Europe, as co-architect of the Strategy, to contribute ideas, including business cases and proposals on future lines of work. DG MOVE also took note of SEA Europe’s firm request to create an industry-oriented Maritime Industrial Value Chains Alliance.
Finally, shipyard capacity remains a key policy issue. The European Commission continues to show strong interest in establishing whether European shipyards have sufficient capacity not only to deliver the current order book but also to build additional vessel types, including commercial and dual-use ships. This debate is tied to the broader objectives of the Strategy, including the ambition to regain strategic market segments, and it underscores the importance of giving industry access to reliable data on shipyard capacity.
Source: SEA Europe. Photo: European Commission headquarters, the Berlaymont building, Brussels – Ank Kumar, Infosys Limited, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.