Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-12-Speech-3-270"
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"en.20011212.9.3-270"2
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".
Mr President, Vice-President of the Commission, this report on the accelerated phasing-out of single hull tankers seemed at first to be an extremely complicated matter and we have been down a long hard road in order to reach today's result. Nonetheless, I think that we have finally done so in a most satisfactory manner, which has gone beyond all our expectations.
On the one hand, we have managed to find an effective response to the concerns of the citizens of Europe, especially in France following the shipwreck of the Erika, as regards environmental protection. At the same time, we have taken fundamental measures in maritime safety because, as all sides agree, double-hull tankers may not be a panacea but they are at least proven to be safer than single-hull tankers.
However, we also achieved another objective: the objective of protecting the competitiveness of the shipping industry. We must not forget that this is a vital sector of our economy, a sector which employs tens of thousands of workers throughout Europe and one of our priorities must be to protect it.
We also achieved something else which I think I should highlight: we managed to find an international solution to a problem which goes beyond national borders. We have before us a solution which has now been adopted by all the countries in the International Maritime Organisation. I think that credit for this has to go to the European Commission, the Member States and the European Parliament because, thanks to our initiative, thanks to our – how shall I put it? – our threat that we would proceed unilaterally if the International Maritime Organisation failed to act, the International Maritime Organisation which, we must admit, has not always acted quite as fast as we would all like it to act, has pushed ahead and adopted a number of measures which mirror the initial proposals submitted by the Commission and the Member States. So clear, efficient measures are being taken for all the classes of tanker which have concerned us and I am happy to say that today we have achieved something which did in fact appear to be beyond reach just a short time ago.
On the one hand, I think that people in France are relatively satisfied with the measures we are adopting and that every European with an environmental conscience is satisfied with the significant progress made while, on the other hand, industrial factors, people engaged in shipping, seamen and shipowners, feel that we have not gone too far and undermined the interests of this important sector of the economy.
So I should like to thank all the honourable members with whom we cooperated so efficiently that we now have this text before us and, of course, to thank and congratulate the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mrs de Palacio, for the way in which she has handled this issue and for her decisiveness and excellent disposition towards the European Parliament."@en1
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