Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-13-Speech-2-128"
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"en.20000613.11.2-128"2
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"Mr President, I can assure you that the victims of the Erika disaster were expecting something more than the extremely insipid text before us for second reading. Admittedly, the proposed Commission Decision dates from December 1998 and the wreck of the Erika took place in December 1999, yet the inconsistency of this proposal, in spite of the repeated oil slicks occurring well before the Erika disaster, testifies to an extremely disturbing lack of resolve.
In such a clear area of common interest, the main priority should have been to do everything possible in order to prevent the recurrence of similar disasters and to finalise, as a matter of urgency, a preventative mechanism that was effective and dissuasive. The few measures before us today, however, presented as the elements of a Community framework for cooperation, deal only with managing the effects of pollution, principally in terms of the transmission of information, and say nothing about prevention. Furthermore, the slim size of this text betrays the inflexibility and inertia of Community procedures which are incapable, while in progress, of taking account of the effects of new events as significant as the sinking of the Erika, which did, however, reveal the serious implications of the lack of transparency in the chain of operators, the lack of polluter liability, the absence of deterrent penalties and the inadequate compensation schemes.
The text before us does not deal with any of these key issues and continues to be inspired by a philosophy which prioritises freedom of movement above any other considerations, particularly those concerning the security of our territories, our seas, and the citizens that live there and make their living from them.
Six months after the Erika disaster, with the entire Atlantic coastline suffering greatly, there has been no real progress. If a disaster similar to that involving the Erika were to take place today, then everything would happen in just the same way, because nothing has changed, and this mild text is not about to provide any significant help for the victims, who are now struggling with insurmountable problems.
We are told that, by the end of the year perhaps, there will be legislative proposals. It is high time. When will the matter finally be referred to Parliament? For the time being, Mr President, there are a few amendments which attempt to introduce the principle of ‘polluter pays’ into the common position. We shall, of course, support these."@en1
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