Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-02-Speech-2-145"
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".
Madam President, I should like to thank Mr Poignant and all the honourable Members who took part in the debate.
Last but not least, I fully agree with Amendments Nos 7 and 13, as amended by the Council, whereby third countries will be reassessed in order to verify if they have taken adequate measures against fraud involving certificates. It really is of major importance to prevent fraud in connection with certificates of competency and several MEPs have already stressed this need in connection with this issue. We are certain that the European Parliament will support the Commission’s views on the above amendments.
Madam President, honourable Members, if this directive is approved at first reading, we shall soon have at our disposal an effective and reliable system for receiving foreign seafarers on our ships.
The amendments proposed confirm the Commission’s approach to the specific procedure for recognising seafarers’ certificates and coincide to a significant degree with the Council’s position. The Commission is prepared to accept almost half the amendments passed by Parliament, which really do improve the proposal.
The Commission, however, cannot agree to the amendments introducing the possibility of withdrawing the recognition of individual maritime training institutes in third countries, namely Amendments Nos 3, 12, 15, 17 and 20. This action would be neither practical nor productive. The Commission is in favour of overall and comprehensive recognition of the systems and procedures of third countries which guarantee the same educational value of individual institutes. The Commission greatly appreciates Parliament’s efforts to examine the withdrawal of these amendments.
On the same subject, the Commission can accept Amendment No 19, which has been amended slightly by the Council, making provision for a mechanism for warning a third country if there are indications that an individual training institute no longer meets the requirements of the STCW Convention, which is the basic training and certification convention.
In all events, the Commission rejects Amendment No 24 proposing to annul the mandatory use of English for communications between ship and shore whenever the communicating parties do not speak the same language. This provision, which has been endorsed by the Council, simply aligns Community legislation with the relevant requirements of the SOLAS Convention, which has applied throughout the world since July 2002.
I believe that, in order to avoid ambiguities during communications between ship and shore, the parties directly involved in the communication should communicate in the language with which they are most familiar. Thus, if the parties do not speak the same language, they must communicate in English; otherwise they will not be able to understand each other.
In addition, I should like to thank Parliament for its very interesting amendments as regards the introduction of a European certificate of conformity for certificates of competency and endorsements and recognition by the Member States, namely Amendments Nos 4, 5 and 6. This is indeed a valuable suggestion and the Commission will incorporate it within the framework of a special legislative proposal on the Member States’ certificates of competency, which will call for the facility of recognition of certificates between the Member States and, at the same time, will safeguard compliance with the applicable requirements.
In addition to this, I should like in particular to draw your attention to the Council conclusions on improving Community shipping and seafaring professions approved by the Ministers for Transport in Luxembourg this year. The Council called on the Commission to submit a legislative proposal on the recognition of certificates between Member States. The Commission will submit a legislative proposal on this matter in the immediate future; consequently, the amendments can be withdrawn because the subject will be specifically covered in the coming year.
I should also like to draw your attention to Amendment No 16 requiring the Member States to inform the Commission and the other Member States before withdrawing any endorsement confirming the recognition of certificates issued by a third country. The Commission believes that, given the urgency of such situations, the Member States should be given the opportunity to withdraw their endorsement even before informing the other Member States. The Council agrees with this view and we really do believe that it is important for Parliament to decide to re-examine this amendment."@en1
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