Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-165"
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"en.20030618.12.3-165"2
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"Mr President, the
disaster cast a harsh light on marine pollution. It was a dramatic event that figured prominently in the media, and it highlighted institutional and political malfunctions. But it was in fact only the tip of the iceberg. Marine ecosystems are threatened by many other polluters besides single hull ships, and their biodiversity, be it marine flora or marine fauna, is at risk. There are many predators. First, overfishing and illegal fishing, which exhaust fish stocks, but also discharges from land, fertilizer and agricultural pesticide residues, clandestine degassing of ships, products from oil platforms, all of them human activities that have taken nothing into account apart from immediate gain, which have no prospects for sustainable development and have no concern for the environment.
It is to the Commission’s credit that it has drawn up an inventory of these risks, recorded the state of knowledge about them and reviewed the conventions and various laws that might control those risks at different levels: international, European, national or regional. On the basis of that inventory, the Commission has built a very goal-oriented strategy for protecting marine resources, with clear objectives and an action plan.
Mrs González Álvarez’s excellent report welcomes this effort, but it also suggests, first of all, that the Commission should go beyond analysis and be tougher and more precise about the action to be taken and, in particular, the time scale for that action. Especially when there are still gaps in our knowledge of a particular field, the precautionary principle must be followed for rapid intervention, to which we should add the polluter-pays principle and that of sustainable development. In this context, there is a need for a radical change to the legislation governing international shipping and a review of the old conventions that do not include these principles. The report’s second suggestion to the Commission is that it should expand its communication by stressing various aspects that were perhaps not sufficiently developed. Examples include areas of particular vulnerability (the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas have been listed), dangerous substances that have not yet been mentioned (such as the various nitrogenous substances, hydrocarbons and discharges from land), activities that have remained in the background, such as flags of convenience, or species that are more particularly endangered, such as posidonia.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy received both the Commission communication and Mrs Álvarez’s report very warmly indeed. Fundamental opposition from Parliament will certainly not emerge tomorrow. But while we can hope that the Commission will be firm and vigilant in the matter, we may be forgiven for having more fears about the Council, where there will have to be a real political will to implement this integrated strategy for the protection of marine resources. The past has shown that internal resistance, sometimes linked to national interests, can hinder the best thought-out European strategic policies. Hence the González Álvarez report’s justified insistence that concrete steps be taken right away as part of an integrated strategy at all levels of power, but also at all geographical levels, including local authorities."@en1
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