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Almost 40% of goods traded within the European Union are transported by sea, a cleaner alternative to road transport. Despite efforts from Brussels to promote maritime transport, the sector's market share within the EU has not grown in the last 15 years. EurActiv France reports.

Shipping is still Europe's second choice for short distance transport, behind road transport, despite its environmental credentials and the congested state of European roads.

Since 2001, the European Union has promoted policies to try to keep as much freight as possible off the roads, but the market share of sea transport remains unchanged.

Slow process

Around 45% of goods traded within the European Union are transported by road, and just under 40% by sea. Rail and river transport account for the rest of the market.

"The switch to clean transport is one of the priorities of European transport policy. But the objectives have not yet been achieved," said Eric Banel, Delegate-General for the Association of French Shipowners.

Antidia Citors, from the coastal protection NGO Surfrider, said, "Despite certain drawbacks, sea transport is the cleanest in terms of CO2 emissions".

The changing nature of the EU may go some way towards explaining the stagnation of the sea transport sector. Jean-Marie Millour, from the Short Sea Promotion Centre, explained that "the stagnation of the sea transport sector's market share should be viewed alongside the EU's enlargement into continental Europe and countries that are largely landlocked".

>> Read: EU seeks to shift freight to rail and shipping

In this context, the fact that sea transport has maintained its market share could be seen as a relative success for European policy.

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EU efforts to promote sea transport bring little progress

IES EU Spring 2015 - An American in Freiburg
See more from IES Abroad European Union student blogger Kimberly: http://bit.ly/webberk. This is a compilation of any footage I have in the month we #39;ve been in Freiburg. There #39;s a lot of cooking...

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IES EU Spring 2015 - An American in Freiburg - Video

SPECIAL REPORT /The European Union is at a turning policy point: it must choose to lead the way towards a gender equal and sustainable future. Investing in womens rights and empowerment is the core commitment for a more sustainable, democratic and inclusive world to evolve, said Joanna Maycock in an interview with EurActiv.

Joanna Maycock is Secretary General of the European Women's Lobby.

She spoke to EurActiv's Editor-in-Chief, Daniela Vincenti

In 60 years a lot has been done on gender equality, but we are not close to parity yet. What are priorities to accelerate equality in 2015?

2015 is a very exciting time for gender equality and womens rights, and for the womens movement globally, and in Europe. Twenty years after the Beijing Platform for Action, a fundamental human rights instrument for women and girls was adopted in 1995, the European Womens Lobby (EWL) has produced its assessment of the continuing discrimination of women and girls in Europe, as witnessed by EWLs 3000 member organisations.

Our report From Words to Action gives the opportunity to learn from twenty years of campaigning. Much has been achieved, but much remains to be done. Despite the fact that equality between women and men is a core value of the EU, our report shows that women and girls still face inequality, violence, discrimination and insecurity. Women and girls cant wait 20 more years to enjoy their full human rights.

Many of your readers probably think that equality between women and men has already been achieved in Europe or at the very least is well on its way. The reality is that women still face persisting and serious discrimination: Women are much more likely to be unemployed or to live in poverty due to low paid precarious jobs. The average pay gap in Europe is still 16%, with women having 40% less pension than men. 30% of women in Europe have experienced male violence. Just 19% of Board members of listed companies are women and only 27% of members of parliament. That means that 73% of members of parliament are men. Women continue to experience sexism, sexual harassment and astonishing levels of stereotyping which hinder their personal, professional and political lives in multiple ways.

The European Union, is at a turning policy point: it must choose to lead the way towards a gender equal and sustainable future. Investing in womens rights and empowerment is the core commitment for a more sustainable, democratic and inclusive world to evolve.

Womens rights are facing a stronger backlash than ever. Ultra-conservative and religious groups are systematically calling gender equality into question, by attacking womens sexual and reproductive rights, sexuality education, womens access to employment and decision-making.

At the same time, a new generation of young feminists is mobilising widely, dynamically tackling new and old forms of violations of their rights. They are angry and completely fed up with this systemic inequality. Feminist economists are challenging the unsustainable and unjust economic system we live in, by proposing new ways of measuring wellbeing and protecting our planet and the next generations.

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Activist: EU must dismantle the 'Pink Ghetto'

The collapse of European Union.
Start of the collapse of EU. Greece and United Kingdom are harbingers. Link to the Russian version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCiTCvYDwmc.

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The collapse of European Union. - Video

THE EUROPEAN UNION has agreed to allocate 40 million Euro (US$44.8 million) to finance Energy Efficiency and Biodiversity projects in Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).

This was one on the decisions coming out of the 13th Annual OCT-EU Regional Conference held in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on Thursday. In addition the EU provides a total of 95 million Euro (US$107M) to the nine Caribbean OCTs as territorial allocations.

The conference was attended by the new European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, on his first visit to the Caribbean three months after he took office. The new EU Development Commissionerstated: I am committed to ensuring that the EU upholds its role as a global champion of sustainable development, on the basis of partnership based on mutual interests.

He furtherhighlighted 2015 as the European Year for Development.

The 130 participants held in-depth dialogue on topics of mutual interest such as a more effective integration of the territories in their respective regions and on sustainable use of natural resources. The trilateral meetings proved to be very useful to facilitate the exchange of views on the programming process and a deeper partnership.

They underlined their special relationship, their belonging to the same European family and common objectives, values and principles. The partners agreed that innovation, competitiveness and blue and green growth are key factors in the sustainable development of the OCTs and the diversification of their economies.

Following the Ministerial Conference, the 13th Overseas Countries and Territories-EU Forum was opened on Friday by Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Dr Orlando Smith and Commissioner Mimica.

Those attending the Forum include Premiers and Chief Ministers of the 25 Overseas Countries and Territories; representatives of Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom; the EU Outermost regions and Members of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Investment Bank.

OCTs are countries that depend constitutionally on four of the EU Member States Denmark, France, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom. They do not form part of EU territory, are not subject to EU law, but they benefit from associate status conferred on them by the Treaty of Lisbon. (PR)

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European Union makes large donation to Caribbean OCTs