The European Commission is reportedly considering the possibility of initiating legal proceedings against Greece and Cyprus, guilty of having abstained last Friday from the vote on the postponement of the extraordinary meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the IMO, the body that would have been tasked with adopting the Net Zero Framework, the new regulatory framework that for the first time sets a global carbon tax for the shipping sector.
This was revealed by the periodical Lloyd’s List, according to which the two countries would be guilty of violating the practice that sees the 27 European nations vote as a single bloc at the IMO.
As is known, in recent weeks, the United States and Saudi Arabia, with the support of Singapore and other countries, had tried in every way to defuse the NZF mine, first trying to prevent its adoption through threats, and subsequently requesting a change to the procedural rules (with a shift from tacit acceptance to explicit acceptance regarding the adoption of amendments to international conventions).
The meeting at the IMO effectively concluded with the decision to postpone the vote on the adoption of the NZF by one year. There were 57 countries in favor of the postponement motion prepared by Saudi Arabia. 49 were against.
According to the London periodical, the Commission is awaiting an opinion from the legal service before evaluating the various options on the table. If it fails to initiate infringement proceedings, other avenues of retaliation against the two countries could be considered.
