Recently a White Paper on the future of transport in the EU has been submitted by the Commission, establishing an array of initiatives set to cover the next decade and geared at developing an EU transport system that will do away with significant barriers present in specific fields.
Member States have expressed mixed feelings to the above-proposed White Paper, since the setting up of a cohesive transport system at an EU level might represent a direct threat to the national transport institutions and registers. This point of concern was also raised by the Maltese Transport Minister Austin Gatt during a meeting held a few weeks ago between the EU transport ministers.
Minister Gatt declared that Malta, which currently has the second largest shipping register in the EU, will not support the implementation of such a unified transport sector, not to mention an EU register or flag for shipping. The same disagreement was conveyed vis-à-vis membership and representation at the International Maritime Organisation and made it clear that maritime issues shall remain to be dealt with at a national level.
