Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-21-Speech-4-098"
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"en.20101021.5.4-098"2
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"Mr President, I know that at the beginning of the debate Mrs Meissner expressed her disappointment at so few Members being here in the Chamber. I think she should be very pleased that 37 speakers contributed to the debate.
I would like to thank Mrs Meissner again for her comprehensive and far-reaching report. I believe that we can now pursue the implementation of all future maritime initiatives with renewed vigour and confidence.
Thank you and my apologies to the interpreters if I was speaking too quickly.
Indeed, we had a very lively debate which has thrown up fresh ideas to encourage us to aim even higher in terms of the maritime policies that we pursue. We must manage the finances of the EU concerning maritime issues in the context of the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation to finance the integrated maritime policy in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The purpose of the proposed funding, namely of EUR 50 million, is to continue the work undertaken since 2007 to remove policy barriers and to unleash synergies by bridging all policies that impact on the sea, such as transport, fisheries, customs and marine environmental protection.
The Commission looks forward to working with Parliament on the timely entry into force of this regulation so that we can implement our future integrated maritime policy actions. Furthermore, maritime surveillance is an important new initiative, which is set to engineer a huge change in all future actions by maritime authorities at sea and aims to install a common information-sharing environment for the EU maritime domain.
The communication from the Commission concerning this initiative came out only yesterday. It is the culmination of intensive work that has produced a six-step roadmap to achieve in a short time the integration in maritime surveillance which seemed extremely difficult to achieve just a few months ago.
I turn now to a number of specific questions raised. On sulphur emissions, the Commission is fully aware of the concerns expressed by industry groups about the impacts that may occur due to the new marine fuel quality standards adopted by the IMO in 2008. That is why the Commission has called for – and subsequently hailed – the IMO agreement which is now estimated to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide by up to 90% and, most importantly, emissions of secondary particulate matter by up to 80%.
The Commission will present a proposal to align EU legislation with the IMO decision within the next months. The proposal will be accompanied by a detailed report that will also include the outcome of our ex-post impact assessment relating to the IMO decision, as well as possible measures that the Commission could take to mitigate undesired impacts on the sector.
Mr de Grandes Pascual raised the issue of sea basins. The EU is aware of different situations in sea basins and is developing appropriate strategies for each sea basin, tailored to specific needs.
Finally, Ms Rosbach and others raised the issue of an anti-disaster scheme. The European Maritime Safety Agency is in charge of monitoring shipping safety. At present it does not have legal competence to regulate in the area of environmental disasters, but discussions are under way – within the context of the Commission extending or renewing the mandate of the European Maritime Safety Agency at present – as to whether more powers should be given to the Agency in coming years. Of course, Parliament will be centrally involved in this issue.
Finally, in my capacity as the European Commissioner with responsibility for research, innovation and science, I was very glad to hear several Members here in the Chamber raising the issue of the relationship between maritime policy generally and, specifically, research into marine and maritime policy. Last week, the Belgian Presidency organised a very important conference in Ostend which dealt specifically with this issue and brought together scientists involved in this area. This is a very important pillar of our integrated maritime policies."@en1
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