Brussels, 22 February 2012 - The European Commission has authorised under EU state aid rules a grant from the European Cohesion Fund to the Klaipeda Port authority for the extension and improvement of quays for the new passenger and freight ferry facility in Klaipeda (Lithuania).

9. Calls on the regional authorities concerned to implement a more multimodal transport policy to ensure that, in addition to motorways, more traffic goes by rail and internal waterways, to connect port areas effectively with the trans-European transport networks and to give ports more effective hinterland connections, in particular through the use of railways and inland waterways; calls, furthermore, on the Commission to make use of the 2010 mid-term review to release more resources to enable greater use to be made of intermediate ports by unloading cargoes in one or more feedering steps so as to reduce congestion in the main ports and ...[+++] their environs and bring the cargo as close as possible to the recipients; stresses, therefore, that it would be useful to diversify unloading points with a view to significantly reducing road traffic and addressing a recurrent congestion problem in the environs of the port zone; calls at the same time, during the planning of port facilities, for an in-depth evaluation of whether these unloading points, which are smaller and closer to the recipient, are nevertheless capable of handling a larger number of unloadings, partly in the light of their infrastructure and road network, so that the problem is not simply shifted to other port areas;

It recommended a restrictive role for the Toronto Port Authority so that the city of Toronto could get on with developing its waterfront.

1. Welcomes the Commission's Green Paper ‘Towards a future maritime policy for the Union: a European vision for the oceans and seas’ and supports the integrated approach to maritime policy, in which, for the first time, maritime policy areas such as shipyards, shipping, ship-safety, tourism, fisheries, ports, marine environment, research, industry, spatial planning and others are described and their mutual interdependence highlighted; sees this as an opportunity for the EU and its Member States to develop a forward-looking maritime p ...[+++]olicy, cleverly combining protection of the marine environment and innovative, intelligent use of the seas while ensuring that sustainability remains at the heart of maritime policy; believes that the EU has the opportunity to pioneer an innovative and sustainable maritime policy and that this requires that Member States act with a sense of common purpose; notes that Parliament will, in future, evaluate each Council Presidency according to progress made in the field of European maritime policy;

This shows that the Commission’s attempt at an integrated, holistic approach, combining various policy areas such as shipyards, shipping, safety of ships and at sea, tourism, fisheries, port policy, marine environment, research, industry, spatial planning and others is not automatically understood.

In September 2002, the Commission wrote to the French authorities for information on how they complied with EU nature conservation obligations with regard to a port development in the Loire Estuary, which is designated as a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the Birds Directive.