29 Amendments of Maria SPYRAKI related to 2014/2240(INI)

Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)

- Having regard to the Competitiveness Council conclusions of 4 December 2014 entitled "Strengthening tourism by leveraging Europe' cultural, natural and maritime heritage";

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. Whereas taking advantage of innovation opportunities in the blue economy requires a skilled, educated and adequately trained workforce; whereas there is currently a skills gap that must be tackled;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

E. whereas the fact of exploiting the potential of the blue economy must not serve as a pretext for subjecting the seas and oceans to forms of unsustainable exploitation of resources ~~and growth models which have already shown themselves to be unsustainable~~, and whereas marine and ocean resources must be exploited strictly in accordance with the need for their sound management and conservation, without altering marine ecosystem balances;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas the EU has been producing a set of programmes and guidelines providing a framework for blue economy-related activities and innovation; whereas that framework should be judged according to its practical usefulness in supporting Member States’ and the industry's efforts to develop the blue economy;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Maria SPYRAKI, Antonio TAJANI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas coastal and island communities' local and regional authorities are key stakeholders in the debate on the potential of the blue economy and the manner of realising it;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas tourism contributes to 5% of the EU's GDP, 12 million jobs and 2.2 million enterprises; whereas cultural tourism equals to almost 40% of pan- European tourism; whereas sea and coastal tourism accounts for one third of all tourist activities in Europe, employing 3.2 million workers;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Takes note of the Commission communication entitled ‘Innovation in the Blue Economy: realising the potential of our seas and oceans for jobs and growth’; points out that the communication ~~is of limited scope, confined as it is to relatively few sectors (deep-sea mining, energy, and biotechnology, for example)~~does not cover all sectors making up the blue economy; calls on the Commission to adopt a more comprehensive approach encompassing the challenges of innovation and job creation over the whole varied range of sectors ~~making up the blue economy~~;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls for the development of a unified European maritime industrial strategy which should bring together EU initiatives on all maritime-related sectors;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Calls on the Commission, in close coordination with Member States, to gauge the financing needs of the blue economy (at sectoral, regional, national, and European level) with a view to realising its growth and job- creating potential;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Highlights the importance of strategically planning the funding of the blue growth sectors; is of the opinion that prioritizing and focusing on a few targeted priorities will increase the impact of financing;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Calls for the economically insensitive findings of publicly funded research, as a matter of principle, to be placed in the public domain and for that principle to be binding on partners in EU research programmes; calls on the Commission to set up the Horizon 2020 research information platform as quickly as possible;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Points out that the Member States have a key role to play in developing the blue economy and urges the Commission to support and encourage all forms of cooperation between Member States and between regions, for example joint programming initiatives and/or macroregional strategies; highlights the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region as a best practice of addressing shared challenges and exploiting joint opportunities;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Considers the shortage of qualified professionals in various fields of study and activity – including, though not confined to, researchers, engineers, and technicians, to be a huge hurdle that could prevent the blue economy from fully realising its potential; maintains that this shortcoming is closely bound up with the growing disengagement and disinvestment by Member States in the spheres of science and education and with the decline in the professional status and social standing of several of the professions concerned, and therefore calls for these two trends to be reversed without delaytherefore urges Member States, regional authorities, educational institutions and the Industry to coordinate, create synergies and identify crosscutting research issues in the blue economy area, in order to promote training and access for young people to blue growth related professions;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Maria SPYRAKI, Antonio TAJANI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Believes that investment in the blue economy should ~~be focused on~~, among others, take into account ‘eco- innovation’, resource efficiency, the circular economy, nature conservation, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable use of resources (ensuring that their rates of use do not, in the long term, exceed their natural regeneration rates); urges the Commission to incorporate these principles into present and future support programmes;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Calls for an appropriate financial framework to be established in order to stimulate the development of the blue economy and job creation, combining ~~and~~, coordinating and facilitating the access to the financial instruments available – structural and investment funding (EMFF, ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund), the research framework programme, and so forth; points out that the instruments should be better geared to the needs of individual stakeholders – public institutions, businesses, especially SMEs, non- governmental organisations, etc. – and the opportunities being offered widely publicised;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. Calls for an appropriate financial framework to be established in order to stimulate the development of the blue economy and job creation, combining and coordinating the financial instruments available – structural and investment funding (EMFF, ERDF, ESF, Cohesion Fund), the research framework programme, the European Fund for Strategic Investments and so forth; points out that the instruments should be better geared to the needs of individual stakeholders – public institutions, businesses, especially SMEs, non-governmental organisations, etc. – and the opportunities being offered widely publicised;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Acknowledges the diversity and particularity of coastal and island communities and calls for the adoption of exceptional measures in order to efficiently promote the development of the blue economy in these areas by alleviating investment barriers and creating favourable conditions for growth;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Calls for more active support for modernisation and sustainable development of the fisheries sector, laying emphasis on small-scale fisheries and seeking to make fishing gear more selective and reduce the environmental impact of fishing, in addition to providing more effective ways to combat illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing; maintains that non-confidential scientific fisheries-related data forming a basis for political decision- taking should be made public in their entirety;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Believes that, for reasons to do with energy consumption, merchant shipping, compared with other ways of carrying goods, is increasingly assuming decisive importance; calls for resources to be channelled in order to support research and innovation in this sector with a view to improving energy efficiency, diversifying and optimally allocating primary energy sources, and reducing noxious emissions;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Maria SPYRAKI, Antonio TAJANI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Points to the strategic importance of shipbuilding, ship-repairing and ship- re~~pair~~trofitting and their links to other sectors – including merchant shipping, fisheries, and cruise tourism; considers that a commitment to technological innovation and a high degree of specialisation, which could lead to gains in added value, ~~could create contexts less exposed to international competition~~by taking advantage of European know-how and competitive advantages and might help to reverse the downturn that the sector has been undergoing; maintains that specific support should be provided to revitalise and modernise the European shipbuilding industry in its different forms;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)

18a. Notes that European sea and coastal tourism is facing competition from third countries; points out that the EU should capitalise on its cultural richness to offer sustainable and high quality maritime and coastal tourism services; considers that cultural heritage and maritime and coastal tourism can play a distinctive role in attracting more consumers and businesses by diversifying the tourism offer; emphasizes the positive contribution of cultural heritage, sea and coastal tourism to Europe's goals of sustainable economic growth and job creation;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Considers that studies on coastal erosion and maritime works to protect the coastline are a key blue economy sector that is becoming more important in the light of climate change; calls for greater EU support for this sector; and flexibility for areas with distinct coastline profile and repeated occurrences of disasters due to coastal erosion;

2015/04/21
Committee: ITRE