Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-12-Speech-1-193-000"
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"en.20110912.26.1-193-000"2
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Madam President, following the accident on the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the Commission has presented an action plan aimed at maintaining and ensuring a higher level of safety and environmental protection in offshore gas and oil activities.
To conclude, I should like to thank you for your contribution to the debates on ways of improving the safety of our waters, and to stress that the Commission looks forward to cooperating closely with Parliament on the legislative proposal due this autumn.
The European Parliament has broadly supported the Commission’s objectives. The meticulous, well-documented parliamentary report that we are discussing this evening confirms the complexity of offshore matters. I am particularly pleased to see that there are many similarities between your conclusions and those of the Commission.
I can assure you that the Commission fully shares your concerns regarding the need to avoid destabilising the offshore sector through inappropriate legislation. With that in mind, we are building on the best practices that exist in Europe and maintaining contact with the parties involved to ensure that our future proposals are based on concrete and realistic data.
Offshore gas and oil production has been, and will continue to be, an important source of energy for Europe. It is a large-scale industry whose safety standards are widely accepted to be an example of excellence. In order to maintain the highest level of overall safety, however, we must continue to make progress. Experience shows that one should never rest on one’s laurels.
Unfortunately, the recent oil leak in a pipeline in the North Sea has further confirmed the need for measures. There is no easy solution where improving the safety of offshore operations is concerned. We believe that the responsibility for offshore oil and gas operations should rest with the industry and with national authorities.
However, our analysis also confirms that the European Union has an important role to play in various sectors. We must ensure that best practices are extended to the entire European Union; we must increase transparency in the industry and encourage the sharing of experiences. We must also improve our contingency plans in the event that our prevention efforts fail.
We see the European Union’s role as one of providing guidance and motivation in the ongoing work on these improvements. Some important work has already been carried out on the basis of the five-point plan on offshore safety. The Commission is currently finalising this proposal on offshore safety, accompanied by an impact assessment, which should be adopted around October time.
These proposals are intended to be forward-looking and to offer a comprehensive solution so that we can address the shortcomings and the complexity of the current system and, above all, establish instruments to improve it permanently. These efforts must be shared by all of the parties involved, and the Commission welcomes the industry’s positive response to some of its calls for progress.
Safety and oil spills know no borders. That is why the Commission is also involved in sharing Europe’s experience of offshore safety with its international partners, notably within the G20."@en1
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