Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-181"
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"en.20010613.5.3-181"2
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"Mr President, as a British MEP I would like to say that on this occasion it is unfair to blame the French for the delay in implementing the Erika I package. The Council as a whole must share responsibility for the lack of progress.
Sadly it is not just the
but the 1 000 ships that have sunk over the past ten years that really highlight the desperate need to make progress in the areas we are discussing this afternoon. Many lives have been lost, thousands of kilometres of our coastline have been damaged, perhaps for ever. That is why I, as PSE spokesperson this afternoon, speak in support of the Commission's proposal and the Sterckx report on the need to establish a monitoring system for maritime traffic.
I thank the rapporteur for all the work he has done, but I should like to focus on one item on which I cannot fully share his views, namely Amendment No 11 to Article 8. Maybe the rapporteur could explain the amendment later on, but I fear that it seeks to water down the commitment contained in the Commission's proposal to ensure that high-quality voyage data recorders – black boxes – are fitted in all ships, old and new, by 2007.
In my view, and in that of many in the maritime sector, the reluctance to accept the value of voyage data recorders and take positive measures to fit them in merchant vessels is a factor which makes safety in the maritime sector less satisfactory. According to marine accident investigators, a voyage data recorder not only records what happens, but also removes arguments and ensures that appropriate corrective measures can be taken. It is, in their view, one of the most valuable tools available today in preventing accidents from happening, not just in learning from mistakes.
Electronic systems have highlighted the limitations of human ability to recall events accurately. They have on occasion shown eye-witness accounts to be totally unreliable. We desperately need these particular black boxes to be fitted sooner rather than later. To put it simply, a ship fitted with a black box is a safer ship.
First, lessons can be learnt and they can be learnt accurately. But secondly, there will be a significant change in the safety culture of a ship as a whole. Therefore the VDR is, if anything, a preventive tool. We would therefore support the Commission's proposal. The IMO route is perhaps a better one, but we are not prepared for a study that may be published in 2004 – who knows? We want action and we want it now."@en1
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