"90% of Europe’s foreign trade is shipped or received by sea. An integrated maritime policy will help recognise the important role of sea shipping in the EU economy". The deputy president of the EU Commission, Jacques Barrot, presents the international conference about the Green Paper on the future maritime policy of the EU, opening in Bremen (Germany) tonight with speeches by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the president of the Executive, José Manuel Barroso. "The conference will be one of the highlights of the consultation on the Green Paper", published in 2006, which has already been the subject of 230 events in all of the member states. "The reflections of the conference will be focussed on the added value of an integrated European maritime policy and the methods to find new possibilities for sustainable development in the coastal regions, the oceans and the Europeans seas". The participants will review the preliminary results of the ongoing consultation process, and "their conclusions will be the basis for the activities of the Commission and the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council during the second half of 2007". (continued)” ” ” “
