On the 19th of June, the Board Meeting and Annual General Meeting of EBI took place in Brussels. EBI (European Boating Industry), which ANEN also belongs to, is the highest representative of the nautical sector at the European level.
In the meeting participated the Secretary General of ANEN, Carlos Sanlorenzo, who is a member of the Board of EBI since June 2013, and Lara Hidalgo, responsible for the legal consultancy of ANEN. They had an opportunity to transfer to the participating members of the European Parliament the reality of our sector and the need for support from the European institutions for its future development.
During the meeting were debated, amongst other things, both the goals already reached as well as the future challenges of the sector in Europe, for which EBI already has some plans, developed jointly between its member associations.
Among the already achieved goals were presented: the publication of the new directive for the recreational vessels (for which all the amendments and proposals by ANEN have been taken into account) in December last year; the adoption of the new directive over tugboat inspections (in order not to be an additional burden for the towing services) in March; the approval by the European parliament, in April, of the stance defended by our Association in the report over CO2 emissions coming from the ships.
When it comes to the challenges faced by EBI in the coming years, a strategic plan with key objectives for 2014-2020 was presented. It will be a necessary instrument to remind the European institutions of our sector at the decision making time. You can read the complete document in the following link: http://www.anen.es/?p=5893.
During the Board Meeting of EBI, other initiatives also in which ANEN participates actively, were addressed:
- Professional qualifications for handling small vessels (new European project which will be approved within short).
- Recycling and destruction of vessels through the project BOAT DIGEST, which our Association has been following closely since last year.
- Collaboration with other agents for the definition of areas of marine protection.
Collaboration with other international nautical associations was also discussed during the meeting:
- ICOMIA: technical and environmental issues
- MYBA (Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association): fiscal issues in Europe
- SYBA (Superyacht Builders Association): reduction of CO2 emissions
- NMMA (National Marine Manufacturers Association in USA): current negotiations over a treaty of free trade between USA and Europe.
The afternoon session was dedicated to the EU financed projects, with interventions and open dialogue with the representatives of the European Commission about the various available programmes, like Horizonte 2020 for the innovation or COSME for the tourism and small & medium size businesses.
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