Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-10-Speech-2-340"
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"en.20090310.31.2-340"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, discussion of the Erika III maritime safety package is drawing to a close. This process is more than three years old and, during that time, we have argued strongly for more safety for passengers, oceans, seas and maritime routes. As a Portuguese and a Madeiran, it is thought that I was especially committed to this project and its main goals: ensuring that Member States comply consistently with their obligations as members of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), adopt that organisation’s conventions and fully apply their mandatory provisions. The negotiation process was difficult. For Parliament, the Erika III package was always a package and never a collection of cobbled together measures.
At the time of first reading, Parliament adopted some amendments. These included the obligation for the flag state to ensure that inspectors and investigators have the correct training and to create capacities for assessment, approval and authorisation of ship and equipment building, the obligation for Member States to obtain documentary evidence of ships’ compliance with international standards – if a ship is not newly built, the Member State is obliged to liaise with the previous flag state and ask it to pass on the necessary documents and data – and the maintenance of a fleet database, which must include the main technical information on each ship, including infringements of IMO conditions.
At that time, we reached political agreements on six of the eight proposals. My own proposal and that of Mr Savary remained to be agreed. We have now reached agreement on how these two proposals also can be included in the final text of the Erika III package. Thanks to Parliament and its perseverance, to the Slovene and, especially, the French Presidencies – whom I thank – and, finally, to the common will of us all, we can now conclude this third maritime safety package. It is important to highlight the ratification of international conventions using the national method in this process. That was a position which I supported out of respect for the various ratification systems in existence in the various Member States. Whilst waiting for the IMO audit scheme to become mandatory, Member States have to subject their maritime authorities to such an audit and publish the results. Member States will put in place a quality management system for their maritime authorities, which is certified in accordance with international standards. Before authorising a ship to fly their respective flag, Member States have to check that it complies with international rules.
Member States have to make sure that ships which fly their flag and have been detained in the context of a port state inspection are brought into conformity with the relevant IMO conventions. When a Member State’s flag appears on the blacklist or the grey list of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control for two consecutive years, it has to submit a report on the reasons for the poor performance to the Commission.
In parallel with the common position, Member States will confirm in a joint declaration their commitment to ratify the main international conventions on maritime safety before 1 January 2012, apply the IMO Flag State Code and the related audit scheme for maritime authorities, and encourage the IMO to make these two instruments mandatory worldwide.
To conclude, Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the adoption of this third maritime safety package is a significant victory in the European legislative process. The Commission, the Council and the European Parliament have proposed, debated, come to agreement on and accepted a text that improves the lives of citizens and businesses, promotes better security on the seas and oceans and prepares our future. My participation in this process was a great honour. When we vote on this package shortly, we will be paying tribute to the victims of all the past or recent maritime tragedies: from the Prestige to the Erika, and from Bolama to Estonia. We will also be helping to avoid or reduce the consequences of similar events in the future."@en1
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