Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-159"
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"en.20030114.5.2-159"2
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"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President-in-Office, I too would like to speak today about enlargement, about the Convention, about Iraq and about the economic situation, but I do not have time. I certainly support what the chairman of my group has said.
Before coming here, I asked the Greek Presidency if it would give priority to the issue of international maritime traffic in dangerous goods. I subsequently noted that the President-in-Office of the Council did in fact refer to this question. Maritime traffic is an important issue for Greece and it is to be expected that the Greek Prime Minister should give it priority. However, Mr President-in-Office, international maritime traffic has at present unfortunately fallen from grace and is associated with the situation in Galicia, the location of one of Europe's and the world's biggest disasters over the last 30 years. These names are all too familiar: ‘Andos Patria’, ‘Telepolicomander’, ‘Orquiola’, ‘Cason’ and ‘Prestige’. Mr President-in-Office, like those I have quoted many of the names are Greek and most of the shipowners were or are Greek. There seems to be no solution and no end to the ‘Prestige’ disaster: our coastline and sea have been contaminated and the wreck of the ‘Prestige’ on the seabed still represents a continuing threat. The actions of the Spanish Government, of Mr Aznar's
have been disastrous, and the same applies to the Galician Government, while the European Union has stood on the sidelines, judging at the Copenhagen Council that five million euros would be enough to solve this problem – which is a problem for Europe as well as for Galicia and for other countries.
The sea is now ruled by illegal and lawless mafias. Yet faced with this problem, the public, volunteers, seamen and fishermen have had to do the job of the government and of the European Union and solve this problem with their own hands, because the ‘black tide’ is still landing on the shores of Galicia, of the Iberian Peninsula and even of France.
The Copenhagen European Council laid bare a serious political conflict: the Member States turned their back on the public, on the fishermen and on the volunteers who had acted so admirably. The Member States have neither implemented the ‘Erika’ legislation nor set up the compensation fund. This is very far removed from the attitude of the United States, where with the Oil Pollution Act they are preventing accidents and even setting up a responsibility fund of four billion euros. What does the Greek Presidency intend to do along these lines? I believe it should distinguish itself by taking action in this area."@en1
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