While overall progress on an integrated maritime policy is regarded as being positive, work on its social policy aspects appears to be lagging behind. “Up until now, social issues and the promotion of maritime jobs have not been part of the Commission’s initiatives up to the level that was implicit in the blue paper,” notes Eleni Marianou, the secretary-general of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). Symptomatic of this is the state of play report published by the Commission at the end of 2009 ⁽¹⁾, which contains no more than three lines about working conditions for people at sea, an issue that was nonetheless deemed to be a priority by transport workers’ representatives.

So are the social aspects of maritime policy a poor cousin of the Integrated Maritime Policy? “Absolutely,” says Philippe Alfonso, political secretary at the European Transport Workers’ Federation. And while it is true that the Commission is now announcing a communication on the social aspects for 2011, “we have the feeling that we’re being taken on an endless story with communications that are never more than declarations of intentions. ‘It would be necessary for’ and ‘we would like for’ statements that do not tackle the challenges that we are faced with”.

And yet, the Commission is the first to recognise these challenges. The EU is faced with a growing shortage of maritime professionals, both officers and sailors. The removal of the flag and the replacement of EU crews with non-EU sailors is becoming more and more common. And this is not to the benefit of security and the preservation of savoir faire. The Commission essentially points to a problem of attractiveness but so far it has shrunk away from addressing working conditions on board the ships and problems of discrimination between sailors. It has integrated the main provisions of the International Labour Organisation’s Maritime Labour Convention but member states have still not ratified this 2006 convention - up until now, only Spain has done – which would allow the ILO text and the EU directive to come into force (see page 16).

The follow-up is still to be developed of the evaluation announced in the blue paper on the exclusion of maritime workers from entire sections of EU social legislation (collective redundancies, transfer of undertakings, information and consultation of workers, European works councils or protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer). While the social partners were well and truly consulted, the next part is taking time. “No consensus,” explained a Commission source. “The problem is political will. Workers’ rights require unanimity and some member states are blocking it, among them Greece, Cyprus or Malta”. The communication on the re-examination of the social regulation (COM(2007)591, which followed the blue paper, nonetheless clearly links the re-evaluation exercise with the “greater prospect for jobs and better quality in maritime professions”.

The Commission’s social agenda is not due out before 2011. In the meantime, a new task force has just been put in place by the EU executive to “balance jobs and competitiveness”. The idea originated with the former Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani, and was adopted by his successor, Siim Kallas. The task force will be chaired by Robert Coleman, former director-general at DG Transport and one of the instigators of a proposal for a directive, which stipulated all crew on intra-EU services be treated as if they were subject to the employment law of any member state (the ‘Manning Directive’, blocked by a minority of European Union governments and eventually withdrawn). The task force will come up with new recommendations.

⁽¹⁾ (COM(2009)540)