Shipping: Greek ports to be declassified as gateways to the country

The requirements of the Schengen Treaty, as defined by the EU, will deprive Greece, from the date of its implementation, of the possibility of accepting cruise ships, yachts and yachts from third countries, while at the same time the daily connection of the islands of the South and North Aegean with the Turkish coast will be stopped.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, which is the competent body to coordinate the required actions, is unable to respond. With delays and unjustifiable delays, it is heading towards depriving the possibility of further «sustainable» tourism development, which is what the government wants and what the Prime Minister stressed during his speech at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre. At the same time, high-income tourism (yachts, yachts) from third countries and the daily (day boat) connection with the Turkish coast, which contribute to the Greek economy much more money than the average tourist, will be stopped.

But the most important thing is that the gateways to the outlying islands are also gateways to the European Union, with all that this means for our country and the geostrategic region of the Mediterranean.

The pilot implementation of the new Schengen Treaty procedures started on 1 January 2021 without adequate infrastructure in any of the country's ports.

As port authorities and operators point out, the delay in financing the required infrastructure - despite the provision of financial resources, as both the Minister and the Secretary General of Ports, Port Policy and Maritime Investments of the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy assure in private discussions with them - will create multiple problems in Greece. Apart from the economic consequences, will enable other Mediterranean countries to take advantage of our «weakness» to keep the acquis and significantly increase their share of tourism at the expense of our country.

«Greece risks once again to be exposed to the European Union for inaction and bureaucratic obstructionism of the parties involved, given that Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 was adopted in 2017, four years before its implementation deadline of 1 February 2022, and has now been postponed to 1 May 2022,» market circles point out.

The reduction in port revenues due to the pandemic deprives ports of the possibility of autonomous actions. In order to proceed with the implementation of the projects required for their certification by 01/05/2022, they are waiting for funding, which unfortunately, due to the obstructionism of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, makes the goal difficult to achieve. To date, no official of the Ministry has been interested in learning about the time-consuming procedures required, so as to act IMMEDIATELY to contribute to the achievement of the goal of port certification in the time required by the EU. And considering that most of the ports of entry are under the administration of understaffed Municipal Port Funds he understands where we are heading.

Circles affiliated with municipalities that have the responsibility of operating Municipal Port Funds are wondering whether this delay is deliberate and deliberate to highlight, in conjunction with existing and not easily manageable time-consuming procedures, the inability to operate the Municipal Port Funds in their current form to take them under the umbrella of the Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy as conceived but not implemented for fear of strong reactions from the KEDE (Central Union of Municipalities of Greece).

Tourism is one of the pillars of Greece's economy and development. Every year there is a global campaign by the stakeholders to win the bet and make Greece a tourist attraction. The Prime Minister himself and the outgoing Minister of Tourism with titanic efforts and under adverse (due to the pandemic) conditions have made Greece and the Mediterranean a reference point for the restart of the global cruise market, both for 2021 and for the following years. Part of this effort was reflected in numbers this summer. The question that reasonably arises is whether this effort by the Prime Minister will continue into 2022 as the actions of his associates are fuelling the growth of tourism in the Mediterranean and hurting the economy of our islands (and beyond) that rely on tourism.

It is worth noting that May 2022, which is the official launch of the Schengen area, will also be the start of the election period for parliamentary, local and regional elections, whatever that may mean.