Director General Maritime Systems

Director General, Maritime Systems, Technical Services Branch

Director General, Space Systems

To support this argument the BPI points at case law in which the Court held that a measure granting an exception to the application of the general tax system of a Member State is not selective and, thus, does not constitute aid even though conferring an advantage on an undertaking, if that measure ‘results directly from the basic or guiding principles’ of said ‘tax system’ (21).

Concerning the argument that the scope of the BesAR and the differentiations are justified by the nature and general scheme of the system, it should be recalled that ‘a measure which creates an exception to the application of the general tax system may be justified if it results directly from the basic or guiding principles of that tax system.

These systems include: SafeSeaNet, a Union maritime traffic monitoring and information system for EU-waters, managed by EMSA, to ensure the implementation of EU legislation; the Common Emergency and Information System (CECIS) facilitating communication during maritime incidents and disasters managed by the Commission’s Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO); the Vessel Monitoring System, managed by EFCA and Member States, supporting the Common Fisheries Policy; the Maritime Surveillance network (MARSUR) managed by EDA supporting the Common Foreign and Security Policy; the European Bo ...[+++]rder Surveillance System (EUROSUR)[8] improving the situational awareness and reaction capability of Member States and of the EU Border Agency Frontex at the external borders; additionally the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) for the EU maritime domain currently being jointly developed by the EU and EU/EEA Member States will further enhance and create an interoperability framework between national and EU systems using in particular a common data model.

19. Regrets the fact that the provisional organisation chart of the EEAS does not include all existing units dealing with crisis response planning and programming, conflict prevention and peacebuilding with the CSDP structures in line with the Madrid agreement; calls in this context for the organisation of regular meetings of a crisis management board to be composed of the CMPD, the CCPC, the EUMS, the EU SITCEN, the peace-building, conflict prevention, mediation and security policy units, the Chair of the PSC, the geographical desks and other policy departments concerned, placed under the authority of the VP/HR and the executive Secretary-General and with the participation of the Commission humanitarian aid, civil protection and internal ...[+++]security structures according to the circumstances; such meetings would be coordinated by the Managing Director for Crisis Response; calls on the VP/HR and the Commission to equip the board with an efficient alert and emergency system and a large unified operations room, located within the EEAS, so as to enable surveillance to be carried out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, hence avoiding the present operational overlapping, which hardly squares with the need for a proper surveillance and rapid reaction system to deal with crises; considers that regular coordination and exchange should be ensured between this system and the European emergency response centre currently being developed by the Commission to guarantee appropriate synergies while respecting each other’s competencies;