Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-12-Speech-1-082"
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"en.20010212.5.1-082"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like, firstly, to congratulate the rapporteur, Mr Bakopoulos, for the splendid work he has carried out and for the speed and efficiency with which this matter has been addressed and resolved.
Mr Fitzsimons referred to the problem of transporting nuclear waste, for example, and we have certainly included this issue in our discussion of the Erika II package. Specifically, the directive concerning minimum requirements for vessels carrying dangerous or polluting goods takes account of the need to respect the Irradiated Nuclear Fuel Code concerning fuel containing radioactive material.
In reply to Mrs Langenhagen and Mr Hatzidakis, we can also see that, if there is a truly global sector, it is the maritime sector, a fact we have all known for a long time. In recent times, the aviation sector has reached a similar scale, but the maritime sector has a longer tradition behind it. We therefore have to try to ensure that the International Maritime Organisation incorporates as many of our requirements as possible.
In this respect, the countries of the European Union are acting as a spur or driving force for transmitting environmental awareness to the International Maritime Organisation, and for communicating the requirements for shielding the marine environment and making it safe and for protecting the lives and ensuring the safety of crews.
In reply to Mr Bautista Ojeda, I wish to say that the powers of the Maritime Safety Agency and those of the Regulatory Committee are quite distinct. The latter’s function is strictly laid out and defined in Community maritime safety legislation and is limited to approving Commission proposals for updating current directives and regulations. The Regulatory Committee therefore has a legislative function, while the agency has absolutely no legislative function and does not in any way intervene in legislation, although it may make suggestions to us. This is a body designed to provide technical assistance to the Member States and to the Commission, and is an advisory body whose function is to monitor the application of Community standards and to disseminate information, and therefore transparency throughout the sector. It does not, however, have a legislative function. There are therefore two distinct areas of operation.
I believe in fact that, as one of the honourable Members pointed out in another speech, the incorporation of ports into the trans-European networks is a key factor in promoting what we are all aiming for, namely the incorporation or integration of all transport systems into the intermodal system.
I want to conclude by thanking you for your contributions and for all your work. A moment ago, Mrs Langenhagen said that port inspectors have a lot of work to do. Well, I think that you and, of course, the Commission staff involved with the maritime sector have also been working hard recently.
I should also like to thank everyone involved for their contributions and collaboration and, most especially, Mrs Grossetête, who has put forward the viewpoint of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy.
As for your congratulations to the Commission for the work done so far in the maritime sector, I shall pass these on to the staff of the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport following the magnificent work they have carried out throughout this long year, in which they have undoubtedly made a very considerable effort to respond to our citizens’ growing demands. I am sure that you have been requesting such an effort for a while now, but the
disaster has acted as a kind of catalyst.
As has been pointed out, the purpose of this proposal is twofold. On the one hand, it is to replace all the current committees responsible for maritime safety with a single committee. The proposal therefore constitutes an effort at simplification, clarification and coherence. On the other hand, the purpose is to help update Community maritime safety legislation in accordance with developments in the international Conventions.
I want to reiterate my gratitude for your work and your proposals and, specifically, for the amendments which are a reminder that the European Parliament performs what the Commission is pleased to say is a crucial role in the regulatory procedure. The Commission is going to incorporate all these amendments once it has adjusted their wording in accordance with the standardised formulations on comitology agreed between the institutions.
We also wish to thank Parliament for having reminded us that the single Committee whose creation we are proposing is going to deal not only with maritime safety but also with the prevention of pollution from ships, something which will, in fact, have to be reflected in the Committee’s name.
Despite the fact that we are prepared to incorporate the prevention of pollution from ships in the name, we are not, however, able to incorporate protection of the marine environment in a generic sense. This is simply because protection of the marine environment in that sense might also refer to potential pollution of the sea by, for example, effluent from inland waters such as rivers or to potential pollution caused by types of waterside activity not connected with the problem of maritime safety. That is why we are unable to accept this generic definition, which would mean incorporating other types of competence, which the Committee is not qualified to exercise. However, what we will, of course, be able to incorporate is the specific addition, ‘prevention of pollution from ships’.
We accept Amendments Nos 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 in their entirety. Amendments Nos 1, 3, 7 and 11 simply require a number of modifications. The only ones we are unable to accept are Nos 5 and 12, and for the reasons I have just pointed out, namely that they refer to aspects of marine environmental protection not connected with maritime safety.
Before concluding, I should like to say that, as Mrs Grossetête has pointed out, we cannot lower our guard. We have to go on extending our remit to cover the whole range of maritime traffic which, as I have said on previous occasions, has changed out of all recognition over the last hundred years, in terms of the number of vessels, the number of tonnes of materials being transported and the nature and quality of those materials."@en1
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