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Building a comprehensive European port strategy

TA-9-2024-0025 · P9_TA(2024)0025 · PE750.225

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 26 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament calls on the Commission to present a comprehensive European Port Strategy by the end of 2024, covering foreign influence, security, the energy transition and competitiveness. It asks for an EU framework to limit and monitor non-EU control of ports, stronger screening of foreign investment, and risk assessments of China's involvement in maritime infrastructure. It calls for measures against espionage, sabotage, cyber threats and drug trafficking in ports, and for limits on foreign access to port operations and data. It wants ports supported as energy hubs, with investment, faster permitting, better rail and inland waterway links, and training for port workers. It asks for harmonised customs controls, action against transhipment relocation outside the EU, and a European Port Summit.

Key points

  1. Calls on the Commission to present an EU strategic policy framework to reduce and limit non-EU influence and control over EU ports, their processes and hinterland operations.
  2. Asks the Commission to propose a framework for continuous monitoring and reporting, with member states, on non-EU influence in EU ports, terminal management and container shipping.
  3. Encourages strategic cooperation between European ports to avoid being played off against each other, and asks the Commission to analyse the employment and trade impact of limiting non-EU investment.
  4. Calls for an ambitious revision of the Foreign Direct Investments Regulation, making screening mandatory in all member states, and for effective use of the TEN-T third-country investment screening mechanism.
  5. Asks the Commission to monitor foreign subsidies in the port sector, assess vertical integration and shipping alliances, and carry out a risk assessment of China's involvement in maritime infrastructure.
  6. Suggests member states adopt laws and contingency plans to retake control of ports and maritime infrastructure in a major conflict, emergency or case of misuse.
  7. Calls for action against espionage, sabotage and cyber threats in ports, limits on foreign access to port operations and information, and attention to intellectual property risks.
  8. Deplores the use of EU ports for drug trafficking and other illicit goods, and calls for European cooperation, digital tools and law enforcement cooperation to fight these activities.
  9. Calls on the Commission to study climate risks for European ports and on member states to assess environmental risks to critical port infrastructure and take adaptive measures.
  10. Stresses ports' role in the energy transition and asks for investment, fast-track permitting for port expansions, synergies with energy networks, and inclusion of ports in the circular economy strategy.
  11. Asks the Commission to boost rail and inland waterway freight in ports, and urges training, education and social dialogue to support port workers in the digital and green transition.
  12. Calls for harmonised customs controls, action against transhipment relocation outside the EU, an atlas of European ports, a maritime industrial strategy, port digitalisation, more Connecting Europe Facility funding, and a European Port Summit.

Who is affected

  • EU ports and terminal operators: would face monitoring, screening and limits on non-EU control and investment.
  • Non-EU investors and state-owned enterprises: their stakes in EU ports, terminals and shipping would be screened and limited.
  • Member states: asked to screen investments, adopt contingency plans, assess climate risks and harmonise customs controls.
  • Port and maritime workers: promised training, social dialogue and fair, safe working conditions.
  • Islands and outermost regions: their ports would receive investment as strategic multi-modal and energy clusters.

Figures and deadlines

  • 10 million tonnes of green hydrogen: the amount the EU aims to import by 2030.
  • 2024: the year the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation is due to expire.
  • End of 2024: deadline for the Commission to present a comprehensive European Port Strategy.

Legal basis: Article 54 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure does not count; the resolution rests on Title XVIII of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.