SIMIC

EU member states are preparing to negotiate the EU's package of new green policies, which they and European Parliament must both approve, with member states split over the bloc's climate targets.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that countries should also be assured that money should be spent on decarbonising maritime transport and not diverted into other areas.

Greek-owned vessels represent 58 per cent of the EU's fleet, according to the Greek Shipowners Union, noted Prime Minister Mitsotakis in his letter to EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Prime Minster Mitsotakis made a plea to Brussels to "engage at the earliest with the Greek authorities and with the shipping community, in order to find realistic and constructive solutions," according to the letter.

The European Commission this summer proposed including shipping in the EU carbon market for the first time. Under the EU plan, shipping would be added to the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) gradually from 2023 and phased in over a three-year period.

Shipowners will have to buy permits under the ETS when their ships pollute or else face possible bans from EU ports.

The commission said that the carbon market would apply to ships sailing within the European Union and 50 per cent of emissions from international voyages starting and ending in the bloc.