Piraeus, 21.09.2012
Press Release
The European Congress of the Santorini Boatmen called “Towards a European Regulation of Ports and the Principle of Subsidiarity” and the Congress “Thalatta 2012: Sustainable marine economy in insular areas” was attended by the President and CEO of PPA SA, George Anomeritis and managers of PPA SA and the Hellenic Ports Association (Elime), which were key contributors to the work of the Conference.
At the first conference, which was attended by the President of the European Sea Ports (ESPO) Mr. Victor Schoenmakers, Sergio Maria Carbone, Professor of International Law at the University of Genoa, Mr. Rene Vries, Harbour Master of the Port of Rotterdam, Mr. Dimitris Theologitis as representative of the European Commission, Mr G. Castellanos as representative of Elime and Mr. George Anomeritis, the issues of education and certification of operators and users of a competing port were discussed at the round table. According to Mr. George Anomeritis: “Through the publicly controlled European port system, we should accept that service providers and users should have free access provided by the certification of the Port Authority, within which they practice. Particular attention should be paid to respecting the freedom of access to the labor market. Elime has already established in Thessaloniki the "Port Studies Institute" aimed at training all port employees by specialty and then certifying them. With a given that there are no regulations to liberalize port services, since the proposed regulation of the Commission was twice rejected by the European Parliament (2003 and 2006) we should all support the European institutional port system in which shareholders (government, local government, chambers and users of the port and shipping services), investors - concessionaires of concession areas and services, port agencies etc will obey the Port Authority of each port and the institutional power of the Independent Port Authority.”
According to Mr. George Anomeritis "All the studies and discussions have been exhausted, it is time to decide! I am glad that in the next two weeks, the European Commission and the Brussels ESPO will discuss these issues further and I am glad that the Ministry of Marine affairs and the Minister K. Mousouroulis, immediately after Brussels, will organize a special meeting in Piraeus for all these issues”.
