Newsfront, Friday 25.11.2016

Shipping and Island Policy minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis is the bring together all parties interested in reviving the Greek shipbuilding industry under the framework of the Europa Ship Plan being promoted by the Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association (HSSA) and supported by the European Union (EU). This was the outcome of a meeting called by the minister, November 17, and attended by the HSSA president Charalampos Simantonis, ministry secretary general Ioannis Theotokas, ports and port policy secretary general Christos Lampridis and Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) chief, vice admiral, Stamatios Raptis. Scope of the meeting was to follow up a ministerial meeting on the prospects of the Europa Ship Plan during which the coordination of the actions of ministries involved was decided, with respect to a programme for Greek shipyards. Declaring his support for the Europa project, seeing it positive for national and regional economies, Kouroumblis will arrange a preparatory meeting with the aim of determining the appropriate framework for the inclusion of Greek shipyards in the Europa Plan and establish an implementation timetable. In the same context, the imposition of VAT was discussed, with the HSSA pointing out VAT will make ship construction and repairs uncompetitive and is a clear disincentive for the Europa Ship Plan in Greece.