​On 17 December the COTER commission approved the opinion of the EA member and Clare County councillor, Brian Meaney on the Naiades II package, which sets the framework for the inland waterway transport policy and the revised action programme for the period 2014-2020 aiming at developing an efficient, innovative and low emission inland waterway transport sector which is well integrated with the Trans European multimodal transport sector.

Discussions on a future integrated urban agenda for the EU and on how to involve cities more closely  in the shaping of EU implementation policy  were also high in the COTER commission agenda. During the afternoon session, the annual joint meeting between the European Parliament REGI committee and the COTER commission gave members an opportunity to discuss  on the implementation of the new cohesion policy and on ways to improve the absorption of EU funds.