ABSTRACT
An EU policy addressing the integral European shortsea market became a component of the EU agenda in 1991. Before this, shortsea shipping was not recognised as a genuine economic sector with its own significance and attributes. The considerably different geopolitical structure of the continent was a variable that constrained the scope of thinking of all trade flows in the continent within a unified pan-European dimension. Maritime exchanges between the EU and the East European nations were subject to the total of the relationships between the two blocs, so the need for a policy differentiating between short- and deep-sea maritime operations with state trading countries around the world was limited. The development that reflects the troublesome maritime relationships before 1989 was the willingness of some member states, but also exporters and operators, to seek retaliatory responses to East Bloc countries practices.
