Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-22-Speech-1-066"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030922.5.1-066"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, I wish, first of all, to congratulate Mr Sterckx on his excellent report, which is well-researched, balanced and constructive.
! [Never again!] This is the relevant phrase and the proper aim for maritime disasters, which have serious ecological, economic and human costs, such as oil slicks, for example. Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go to improve maritime safety. At European level and following the sinking of the
the Commission proposed an entire set of measures that are appropriate and bold – the Erika I and Erika II packages – in order to prevent similar disasters. These measures would clearly have enabled us to prevent to another oil slick from occurring.
You have been extremely bold, Commissioner, and entirely right. Unfortunately, due to the reprehensible shilly-shallying of some Member States, these Erika I and Erika II packages only entered into force this year and only on 23 July at that. The Commission has opened legal proceedings against ten Member States that have failed to meet their obligations to notify. In any event, these measures entered into force far too late to prevent the
disaster and the heavy fuel that it was transporting is still polluting coasts from Galicia to Brittany, including my own region, Aquitaine, with the extremely serious consequences of which we are all aware.
We already know that the proposed compensation will cover only a tiny part of the damage that has been caused. There have been so many human tragedies and so many barely healed wounds, and this is why it is crucial to find out what decision has been taken to recover the thousands of tonnes of fuel that remain in the wreck of the
. There is an urgent obligation to clarify this matter. Furthermore, we know that the compensation proposed by the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (FIPOL) will only cover a tiny part of the damage that has been caused. I therefore call on the Commission and the Council to do everything within their power to ensure that the European Supplementary Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, the COPE Fund proposed by the Erika II package is implemented in order to provide additional aid.
Many documents have been published on the
disaster and, for this reason, I wish to quote from the remarkable report drawn up by the French National Assembly. The European Parliament, for its part, has held two hearings with the European Commission and enquiries are still ongoing. Legal proceedings have been opened in both France and Spain, and elsewhere, to establish the true circumstances of the shipwreck and the responsibilities of the various actors involved in this tragedy. In my view, those who are recommending a committee of inquiry into the
are doing so for political reasons. We must look to the future; to prevention, and not make political capital out of this tragic affair. This is why, as a Member of the European Parliament, my thoughts are primarily with the victims and therefore to prevent, first and foremost, further disasters from occurring. I hope to forge ahead on this matter and this is why I tabled an amendment, accepted by my group, calling for a temporary committee to be set up, with the task of assessing the effectiveness of the Erika I and II packages, in order to prevent any further disasters and, if necessary, to propose strengthening them. There are many questions to which we and the general public wish to have answers and it is time that answers were provided. What is position of the Member States’? How reliable are double-hulled ships? What progress has been made on the concept of safe havens, to which Mr Sterckx referred earlier? The temporary committee will be able to answer this question and others and to provide reassurance; that is its sole purpose.
I hope that you will be able to look beyond the political differences and agree, on this extremely important subject, to support this forward-looking initiative. This is still the best way of proclaiming
! [Never again!]"@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples