Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-02-Speech-4-073"
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"en.20000302.4.4-073"2
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"I welcome the adoption by a virtually unanimous vote of the House of the resolution on the effects of the oil slick caused by the
. Our Group made a great contribution to drafting this resolution. It takes far better account than our previous resolution of the extent of the disaster, which every day seems to get far worse than anticipated on first analysis and is becoming more exacting, clearer and more urgent.
At this stage it is still difficult to assess the total damage caused to all the fishing, fish farming and aquaculture sectors. We do already know, however, that it will be extensive. Every day, further pollution increases the toll. The degradation does not affect just business turnover but also valuable parts of our heritage. The effect upon the brand image of seafood products is hard to calculate today. It is also essential to include the damage suffered by businesses both upstream and downstream (the fish trade, service providers, tourism, etc.) and the overall costs incurred by the authorities in eliminating pollution and restoring the reputation of the tourist industry. Fishing and tourism, as the two chief resources in most of the regions on our Atlantic coastline, have therefore both been hard hit.
Hence the need to clearly stipulate, as our resolution does, the principle of ‘polluter cleans’ and the principle of ‘polluter pays’. It is in fact the job of the polluters to pay the costs for cleaning the areas suffering as a result of their actions, and for the restoration of the ecological balance damaged by their actions.
Regarding the compensation system, the citizens are anxious because FIPOL’s initial compensation payments to victims have been limited to 25%. This is just scandalous. Quite obviously all victims should receive 100% compensation. It would be quite unthinkable to insist that victims should bear any part of the costs of the damages they have suffered due to the incompetence of a polluter.
Our resolution further welcomes the initiatives taken by a number of local authorities, such as the French department of Vendée, to draw up a precise assessment of the state of the coast prior to the arrival of the first waves of the oil slick. This procedure should be adopted as a model, since it will make it possible to expedite the compensation of victims, be they private individuals or public authorities.
Finally, our resolution clearly stipulates that it is absolutely essential, in matters of maritime safety, to break out of this downward spiral of widespread irresponsibility, this pernicious system of mutual paralysis wherein States dump responsibility onto the Union, and the Union dumps it on the States, and in the end, the polluters are the only winners. Everyone must play their own part. The Commission, which, for once, has not followed the lead of the Americans even though it might have been beneficial in this case, should establish a basis for maritime safety at the earliest possible opportunity. This basis must include minimum conditions for access to Community waters and ports with regard to the age and characteristics of vessels; a general principle of environmental responsibility making it possible to determine the liability of the various operators, and particularly that of the charterer, and to impose heavy penalties. The Commission should ensure the coordination of information. It should not be afraid to confront the lax attitude of some major ports or major shipowners, and should make the issue of flags of convenience a central concern in the negotiations with Malta and Cyprus. Let me remind you that the
was registered in Valletta. All the same, States must clearly not shift their own essential responsibility onto the Union: the safety of all concerned is conditional upon the standards and effectiveness of inspection by the port State (and the resources made available for this).
We must, and shall, remain particularly vigilant in the months to come in order to ensure that the victims who bear none of the responsibility whatsoever for this disaster receive compensation in full from the polluter, and to ensure that this time we do in fact learn the lessons from the oil slick in terms of maritime safety, so that polluters are deterred once and for all from gambling with the lives of our coastal populations. The most effective form of prevention is to ensure that any potential polluter is made liable to extremely heavy financial penalties."@en1
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