OpenLobby.EU
Explore

Inland Navigation Europe

INE

Inland Navigation Europe promotes sustainable transport by moving goods via rivers and canals.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Torsten Klimke (Head of Unit Mobility and Transport) and European Barge Union and

19 Sept 2025 · Regular courtesy visit of the Inland Waterway (IWT) sector to the Head of Unit in charge of IWT

Meeting with Philippe Chantraine (Head of Unit Mobility and Transport)

12 Sept 2025 · Exchange of views on the MFF 2028+, in particular the Commission proposal on the Connecting Europe Facility Regulation

Inland Navigation Europe Urges Integrated Waterway Climate Strategy

4 Sept 2025
Topic — EU initiative for an integrated framework to manage accelerating climate risks across Europe.
Message — The group wants the EU to integrate waterways into resilience frameworks by recognizing cross-sector interdependencies. They call for flexible financing and adaptive planning to manage evolving climate risks.123
Why — This would protect their strategic infrastructure from climate-driven economic losses and cargo capacity decreases.45
Impact — Other water users like agriculture or energy production may face tighter resource allocation.6
Read full response

Inland Navigation Europe urges unified EU zero-emission waterway pathway

4 Sept 2025
Topic — This initiative outlines actions to boost private and public investments into sustainable fuels.
Message — INE requests a unified zero-emission pathway at the EU level to provide legal certainty. The sector requests prioritized access to sustainable fuels and a goal-driven policy framework.12
Why — A unified EU framework would finally make sustainable fuels economically competitive with diesel.3
Impact — Innovative companies and the environment lose because inconsistent rules keep polluting diesel cheaper.4
Read full response

Response to EU industrial maritime strategy

28 Jul 2025

INE is looking forward to the Commission's plans for the EU Industrial Maritime or Waterborne Strategy and how it will support the competitiveness, sustainability and security of its extensive value chain through a holistic approach. Most inland waterway vessels for passengers and freight are built, retrofitted, dismantled and recycled in Europe. European shipbuilding and equipment manufacturing ensure Europe's leadership in innovation in inland navigation. While climate change adaptation and the development and deployment of green and smart shipping present challenges for transport, they offer unparalleled opportunities for European shipbuilding and equipment manufacturing. In order to maintain and expand this highly innovative market, orders from a thriving inland waterway transport sector are essential. We therefore strongly advocate maintaining EU investment in the good navigational status of inland waterway infrastructure, on which both cargo and passenger transport rely heavily to increase their market share. We advocate for a regulatory and taxation level playing field to make the price of production and consumption of alternative fuels competitive with diesel. INE is calling for solid policy support for cost-effective and scalable innovation pathways, prioritising the allocation of sustainable drop-in fuels and value chain corridor initiatives for clean and smart shipping. This should include testbeds and regulatory sandboxes to help create viable business cases and accelerate development and deployment. INE also calls for EU funding and state aid frameworks that are fit for purpose and easily accessible for SMEs and micro-SMEs. Below is a link to a document which provides further details: https://www.inlandnavigation.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Industrial-Maritime-and-Port-Strategies-Statement-FINAL-250603.pdfhttps://www.inlandnavigation.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Industrial-Maritime-and-Port-Strategies-Statement-FINAL-250603.pdf
Read full response

Inland Navigation Europe urges port strategy focus on waterways

28 Jul 2025
Topic — A new strategy addressing security, competitiveness, and the energy transition of EU ports.
Message — INE advocates for a targeted approach to relieving strategic bottlenecks in ports and their hinterlands. They recommend harmonised implementation of cybersecurity legislation and support for renewable energy value chain corridors.12
Why — Targeted investment would increase waterway capacity and help capture more freight volume.34
Impact — Road and rail sectors may lose infrastructure funding to inland waterway projects.5
Read full response

Meeting with Matthieu Moulonguet (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra)

29 Apr 2025 · Decarbonisation of the waterborne sector

Meeting with Anne Bergenfelt (Cabinet of Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas)

24 Mar 2025 · Courtesy visit of the European Inland Waterway Infrastructure manager association and the Flemish ministry of transport with the Cab member in charge of IWT.

Response to European Water Resilience Strategy

4 Mar 2025

Water is a strategic asset. The ongoing and future effects of climate change increase the need for an inter-disciplinary and proactive EU water resilience strategy given the interdependencies between sectors and regions. It is also essential that our water infrastructure becomes resilient to all other kinds of disruptions. To achieve a fit-for-purpose and a fit-for-future waterway network fully contributing to increased water resilience, sustainability and security, it is essential to: Raise political awareness and understanding about the multi-purpose role of our water infrastructure, including the navigable waterway network, and how its interdependent functions affect and support our economy and society. Being fully aware of interconnectedness and leveraging synergies will strengthen our resilience. Breaking silos is key to avoid conflicting use, weak spots and maladaptation. Ensure a systemic approach and policy coherence in governance processes and projects. Enhance collaboration across administrative entities and sectors for a coherent integration of water resilience in and between EU policies with due consideration for geographic differences. Joint planning objectives integrate the interests of all sectors, enabling a more efficient and sustainable management of shared water resources while considering the growing climate change and security-related risks. In the face of combined challenges such as drought, floods and cyber threats to water related infrastructure, integrated approaches and proactive risk management are essential. Foster research, development and innovation to bridge uncertainties by investigating data and investment gaps; design and test innovative and sustainable co-benefit solutions for smart water use, circularity, retention, climate adaptation, security and pollution control at source, etc. Integrate water resilience in EU funding and financing instruments, enabling EU strategic investment into integrated projects and the combination of resources to cover concurring needs and enabling synergies. If we are to strengthen and improve the ability of Europes waterway network to continue at all times to provide life sustaining services for society, economy and nature, it is imperative to increase capacity building and investment in the preparedness and resilience of waterway related infrastructure with nature based solutions where possible and with other solutions where necessary. Enable flexible, adaptive planning and implementation. Traditional infrastructure has a long life expectancy. Its quality, reliability and safety must be improved where needed. At the same time, climate adaptation requires working with evolving knowledge, continuous monitoring and evaluation to expand the toolbox with no-regret and adaptive measures according to specific geographic needs. Flexibility can be achieved by implementing large-scale projects stepwise, enabling stepwise execution and adaptive management. This approach allows for continuous refinement of the planning and implementation of measures based on lessons learned from earlier phases. Improving responsiveness requires therefore a rolling funding programme as part of multi-annual climate and water resilience plans for navigable waterways.
Read full response

Meeting with Herald Ruijters (Deputy Director-General Mobility and Transport)

30 Jan 2025 · Climate resilience

Meeting with Hildegard Bentele (Member of the European Parliament) and FIPRA International SRL

29 Jan 2025 · Water infrastructure

Meeting with Kai Tegethoff (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

27 Jan 2025 · Revision of the directive on harmonised river information services (Directive 2024/0011(COD))

Meeting with Fotini Ioannidou (Director Mobility and Transport) and

16 Jan 2025 · Courtesy visit of the Inland Waterway (IWT) sector to the new MOVE director and Head of Unit in charge of IWT

Meeting with Kris Van Dijck (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and European Barge Union

24 Sept 2024 · River Information Services

Response to Interim evaluation of the Connecting Europe Facility 2021-2027

23 Sept 2024

Inland Navigation Europe (INE) underlines the strategic importance of the CEF2 programme for transport (as the CEF1 programme before), for supporting the implementation of the EU TEN-T goals regarding the inland waterways network and its connections to other modes. CEF is absolutely a relevant and indispensable tool for achieving its policy objectives. Since 51% of all inland waterway transport crosses borders and Europes navigable waterways have almost no bypasses, even a national bottleneck has a trans-European dimension. The centralised management of CEF has proven the most effective way to address projects with such a corridor focus, ensuring better cooperation and resulting in a better design and implementation of projects. The EU added value is high since cross-border projects and national projects with a cross-border dimension were not as effectively dealt with under decentralised management. CEF is also essential for infrastructure of a public character without return on private investment but high return on various societal goals which are not attractive to private investors. We recommend increasing coherence between EU funds which help address climate resilience. Inland waterway projects are integrated projects and designed to yield co-benefits for different sectors. Such a multi-disciplinary approach should be encouraged. It is also important to take into account that, in parallel to one-off adaptation projects, adaptation to climate change in the case of rivers requires adaptive implementation and dynamic river management, hence flexible procedures in the form of catalogues of measures to ensure good navigation status. While administrative burdens linked to CEF should definitely be further improved and simplification of procedure is possible, CEF is overall an efficient programme thanks to central management with a relatively low budget that has been absorbed up to 90% under CEF1, an exceptional success rate. We strongly advocate to increase the CEF budget for transport, because the programme is effective but money falls short for full completion of the TEN-T network. It has been a victim of its success and it should be enabled to become a champion of its success in implementing EU policy goals which are also beneficial to Member States. In CEF2, we see that several important projects can't be funded, not because they are not fit-for-purpose but the programme is oversubscribed several times and hard selection decisions have to be made. In the inland waterway sector, the negative effects of this underfunding are becoming clearly noticeable in the implementation of the TEN-T goals. Priority is given to cross-border projects, but national projects with cross-border dimension have been neglected to the detriment of good navigation status on the corridors as a whole. This is an attention point for CEF3. INE advocates firmly against any decentralization of management for projects which are by too narrow interpretation considered as national projects but which have a cross-border dimension and their solution contributes to attaining the EU green deal goals of modal shift. Inland Navigation Europe (INE) is a not-for-profit platform representing inland waterway authorities and organisations promoting transport by water.
Read full response

Meeting with Tom Berendsen (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and European Barge Union

10 Sept 2024 · River information systems

Inland Navigation Europe demands dredging inclusion in EU taxonomy

28 Apr 2023
Topic — The EU is establishing a classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities.
Message — The organization proposes including waterway dredging as a sustainable activity when it meets specific environmental criteria. They argue dredging is essential for climate adaptation and implementing nature-based solutions like habitat restoration.12
Why — This would allow waterway authorities to secure sustainable financing for modernized transport infrastructure.3
Impact — Ecological restoration and flood prevention efforts fail without funding for necessary dredging.4
Read full response

Meeting with Dominique Riquet (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

6 Sept 2022 · Politique fluviale

Meeting with Dominique Riquet (Member of the European Parliament) and European Construction Industry Federation

21 Apr 2022 · Infrastructures de transport

Response to Harmonised river information services – revision of EU rules

14 Sept 2021

(I) efficiency of navigation and traffic management • More flexible and smoother procedure of technical standards adoption and subsequent adaptation is required. To this end, we fully support the idea to involve a dedicated standardization body such as CESNI. It should be organized in a way that enables faster updates of RIS standards when required. Ideally, there is room for the organisation of test beds with regard to harmonisation to test implementation in the Member States. • A direct reference to European Standard for River Information Services (ES-RIS), which is updated every two years, in the revision would facilitate and accelerate the update of RIS technical specifications. • Various formats are still being applied in the EU databases concerning the re-use of information. The revision could encourage further data harmonisation and standardisation. • With regard to the reporting requirements, they should not be the same in all Member States and for all waterways as they depend on local circumstances. But it should be possible that the data to be reported for one voyage according to the different reporting requirements are provided in one report. (II) integration in logistics processes While the initial focus of RIS was an increase in safety and efficiency, the overall objective of RIS should evolve to deliver an important contribution to the EU Green Deal goal that a substantial part of the 75% of inland freight carried today by road should shift onto rail and inland waterways and that inland waterway transport and short-sea shipping should increase by 25% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050. In this respect, we advocate a multimodal, even synchromodal, resilient and climate neutral mindset. • We support a strong linkage to the European Mobility Dataspace and the emerging corridor information systems as well as the alignment with existing legal frameworks such as the eFTI Regulation to keep the administrative burden on users low and inland waterway transport easy-to-use. • It should also be taken into account that many multimodal value chains have often a global dimension, entering or leaving the EU through (for example) seaports, it will be necessary to ensure that digitalisation initiatives target interoperability with global data sharing standards and legal frameworks. This perspective should be included in the impact assessment. Eventually, the role of CESNI could be extended to set up the capability of EU inland navigation to actively participate in global standardization forums such as (for example) UNCEFACT and IPCSA (Port Communities). The real harmonisation of RIS with seaports should allow a common environment and enable single reporting of the same content. (III) burden and cost to comply and enforce legislation • Investments in both digital and (smart) physical infrastructure should be aligned to each other, as both are equally necessary to allow optimal results for multimodal evolving towards synchromodal, resilient and climate-neutral transport. • The outroll of 5G in the framework of CEF along waterways beyond dense urban areas are important for easy access to services. • The cost of (human) change management within public authorities and private undertakings should be borne in mind and supported. • Overall and complementing the legislation, appropriate funding should ensure the execution of a well-defined roadmap providing inland waterway transport with sustainable capabilities and governance to operate in a European federated, secure and trusted data sharing infrastructure and European Mobility Dataspace.
Read full response

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

3 Feb 2021 · Inland waterways in the EU Green Deal

Meeting with Rachel Smit (Cabinet of Commissioner Adina Vălean)

3 Feb 2021 · meeting on Naiades

Response to Navigation And Inland Waterway Action and Development in Europe (NAIADES) III Action Plan 2021-2027

15 Jan 2021

INE thanks the Commission for reflecting the Naiades III recommendations. We would like to emphasise a number of points for the ground work of the Naiades III communication and we are at the Commission’s disposal to exchange and elaborate. - Infrastructure: Waterway authorities increasingly strive to improve the overall quality and performance of the network and want to be able to take an integrative, goal-based and adaptive approach when planning and undertaking projects on infrastructure and infrastructure services in order to realise fit-for-future waterways across borders. INE fully supports integrative approaches and would like to emphasise that realising co-benefits is a common task for all water actors. INE asks the Commission how the integrative approaches towards ecologic, societal, economic and safety-related functions will be organised and facilitated. - Digitalisation: We would not frame the problem as if IWT is not integrated digitally in multi-modal supply chains. The problem is rather that the regulatory digital framework is not yet cross-modal which hampers multi-modal digital integration for all modes. Digitalisation takes place criss-cross in a decentralised landscape with a broad variety of players (transport modes, logistics and mobility, other sectors, public and private entities, global, European and local actors etc.). Multi-modality and subsequently synchro-modality are only viable if the different modes develop shared definitions, jointly define common standards and common goals. EU digital initiatives must ensure accessibility for all players and especially small players to enlarge the acceptance, increasing the opportunities for a modal shift. - Modal shift: INE agrees that the lack of EU accepted framework for calculating and reporting GHG emissions is problematic and hindering informed policy as well as corporate choices. A common framework will prove important to compare between modes and within the mode. In addition, we believe it is important to link modal shift policy to the EU industrial policy. The European Green Deal will guide the agricultural, energy, chemical, steel and construction sectors through a sustainable and circular transformation. Their transport volumes are well suited for inland shipping, while some traditional IWT volumes such as fossil energy will gradually decline. IWT also has untapped potential when it comes to city logistics. As the majority of European cities are on waterways and are struggling with congestion problems, local waterborne transport becomes a solution for the retail and parcel, construction, circular sectors. INE also recommends to cover river-sea shipping in the scope of the Naiades III communication in order to not miss out on any IWT potential in regions where river-sea shipping is relevant and to support its development. - Innovation and alternative fuels: We fully agree with the need for a different framework as an incentive to innovate. We recommend to put in place a clear roadmap for greening towards 2050 with intermediary milestones in line with the Green Deal. For a large-scale greening of the IWT fleet, we advocate a system-wide corridor approach with cooperation between transport, energy and digitalisation public and private stakeholders covering supply, demand and infrastructure. A cluster and corridor approach requires an integrated package of measures including regulation, capacity building, support and a level playing field to create incentives and legal certainty for investors. - While the roadmap addresses passenger transport, it is not entirely clear to what extent it will be covered in the Naiades III communication. Could the Commission clarify?
Read full response

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and European Federation of Inland Ports

5 Oct 2020 · Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy

Meeting with Roxana Lesovici (Cabinet of Commissioner Adina Vălean)

11 Sept 2020 · Sustainable and smart mobility strategy

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans) and European Federation of Inland Ports

24 Aug 2020 · Recovery in the waterborne sector

Meeting with Daniel Mes (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

10 Jan 2020 · Green Deal for Europe’s waterways

Meeting with Alessandro Carano (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc)

5 Apr 2017 · INLAND NAVIGATION

Meeting with Desiree Oen (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc) and European Barge Union

21 Apr 2016 · TEN-T Days 2016

Meeting with Violeta Bulc (Commissioner) and

24 Feb 2016 · Meeting with sectpr representatives of Inland Waterways Europe (IWW)

Meeting with Henrik Hololei (Director-General Mobility and Transport)

19 Nov 2015 · waterborne package, infrastructure, digital transport

Meeting with Desiree Oen (Cabinet of Commissioner Violeta Bulc) and European Barge Union

23 Apr 2015 · Inland waterways