Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-124"
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"en.20000613.11.2-124"2
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"Mr President, like you I am going to welcome the work carried out by our fellow Member, Mrs McKenna, on this Community framework for cooperation in the field of marine pollution. This should prove to be an instrument of particular interest, as is perfectly illustrated by the latest marine disaster to hit the coasts of France.
In January, this Parliament adopted a resolution, following the oil pollution related to the sinking of the Erika. What is the situation today? Fuel oil is still leaking out of the hull, which is lying at a depth of around 100 metres, and, contrary to the statements made six months before, this oil is continuing to pollute our coasts and to poison the marine environment. Implications for the environment and for animal life have been tragic, and there are still serious threats. Serious social consequences are expected in future: fishermen, hotel owners and all the people involved in tourism are going to suffer for years from the effects of this oil slick.
The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, or IOPCF, seems extremely reluctant to provide compensation for the victims and, in any case, the amounts it is prepared to release would not be at all adequate. This proves, once again, that the principle of ‘polluter pays’ is not being applied. I should like to see real cooperation being established in order to guarantee, pursuant to this principle, repair of the damage caused.
This framework for cooperation will, therefore, make it possible to improve existing local or national resources, particularly by creating better conditions for intervention in the event not only of accidental pollution but also of deliberate pollution. This would therefore make it possible to include illegal degassing and any other source of pollution.
We must also stress the importance of research. This winter, on the Atlantic coasts of France, effective techniques to combat the oil slick in Brittany were seriously lacking. Cooperation and the exchange of know-how must be encouraged and supported in this highly technical field.
Regarding the extension of this cooperation to the countries of the Mediterranean and to the countries of central and eastern Europe as well as to TACIS programme countries, I should like to inform Mrs McKenna that I do not entirely agree with her, and this is perhaps one of the few points with which I do actually disagree. There are international conventions on the Mediterranean and the Baltic, which already fulfil this purpose. Mrs McKenna’s idea may seem perfectly generous, but the appropriations and the staff allocated to this framework for cooperation, with appropriations of EUR 7 million for a period of 7 years, seem much too little to me. On the same grounds, I do not think there is any point in providing for a management committee.
In its resolution on the oil slick in January, the European Parliament requested that this framework for cooperation might come into force as quickly as possible. Let me today stress the fact that the 5 compromise amendments should be adopted and that we should not delay the establishment of Community cooperation which will prove an excellent instrument, one that European citizens are awaiting impatiently, out of concern for the protection of our marine environment."@en1
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