Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-07-Speech-5-037"
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"en.20000707.3.5-037"2
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"Mr President, on most occasions when my Irish colleague Mrs McKenna speaks in this House we would disagree, but on an issue like this we have far more in common than that which divides us. I certainly recognise that the greatest environmental disasters occur as a consequence either of irresponsibility or the actions of those who are driven by the profit motive, irrespective of the consequences.
Regrettably such disasters affect many countries at the same time. We know only too well that major environmental disasters respect no international frontiers. In more recent times we experienced the problems caused by the pollution of the Danube with cyanide from Romanian mines, the
tanker break-up off the French Atlantic coastline and, from an Irish point of view, the continuing problems caused by Sellafield. And of course in the not-so-distant past there was Chernobyl, the memory of which still haunts us. Events such as this will continue to recur unless and until we establish the “polluter pays” principle in the fullest sense of these words.
Multinational firms will only change their behaviour when they are forced to pay heavily for their misdeeds. They will continue to inflict damage on the environment when the rewards far exceed the punishment. Their attitude is based on the simple belief that implementing restrictive environmental protection either harms their business activities or increases their financial overheads significantly. Furthermore, any meagre fine they will be obliged to pay pales into insignificance when compared to the huge profits that they make.
I therefore welcome this initiative that acknowledges the international nature of environmental damage. It recognises the need for strong punitive sanctions. In particular the criminalisation of environmental damage will send a clear warning to those responsible for it.
If the Danish proposals were to be implemented, those who put unsafe vessels on our seas would think twice. Others, such as the management at Sellafield, who deliberately conceal information and involve themselves in bad practices, be held accountable for their deeds. And the chief executives and managers of the multinationals who make the important decisions displaying the callous disregard for the consequences would face the proposal of not only seeing their businesses maybe in some cases closed down because of heavy fines and seizure of assets and so on, but they themselves could face imprisonment.
I believe that this is a direction in which we must go but I would also like to make one additional point. Proposals and actions in this field should not simply be confined to the territory of the European Union. We have a responsibility to ensure that multinational firms are unable to transport their damage and their behaviour to the developing world because of restrictions that we may place upon them within the European Union. We must also impose standards on European firms that operate in the developing world and seek international cooperation to have tough standards and sanctions applied on a worldwide basis."@en1
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