Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-22-Speech-1-072"
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"en.20030922.5.1-072"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I too should like to take this opportunity of congratulating the rapporteur on the amount of work he has done and on the quality of it. The report is a balanced assessment of the events surrounding the
disaster and contains sound recommendations, whether on the prevention of such problems in the future or on ways of managing them more effectively. The rapporteur is right in stating in today's debate that his report deals with safety at sea, now and in future. I always see it as a problem when we discuss an investigative report that it appears, and becomes, a discussion after the event about something that should have been prevented. It is a logical step to call for new rules and measures. As always where the topic of safety at sea is concerned, there is a considerable risk that nothing else will get done. I shall return to this in a moment.
A major problem in the area of maritime safety is not so much the lack of an international legal framework, but rather the enforcement of the rules and the tracking down of infringements. The rapporteur is right in noting that
legislation has not been able to prevent the
disaster, which is painfully similar to that involving the
. Prevention is paramount. It is inevitable that the rules will be tightened, although in my view, we should, above all, make a critical assessment of the implementation of existing legislation. Our first priority should therefore be a swift and complete introduction and, most of all, a strict enforcement of this legislation by the Member States. I therefore believe that it is the role of Parliament to bring this issue to the Council’s attention, and I naturally rely on the Commission's support, but I fear that legal procedures in this matter are not all that effective because they take such a long time.
Of great importance is the designation of safe havens, as well as the use of reception installations for excess oil in ports, which presuppose adequate payment schemes that are uniform throughout the European Union for effective use. Major problems result from this latter not being done, and from these installations being used infrequently.
Moreover, I also have in mind a prevention measure such as the monitoring of dangerous situations and infringements by means of a more extensive application of voice-data recording
systems. These offer scope for prevention, monitoring and assessment of the situation after the event. And last but not least, criminal sanctions with a deterrent effect. The Commission proposal on criminal sanctions for environmental offences, on which I am rapporteur, is very much in keeping with the Sterckx report. Even though my report focuses on illegal dumping, the implications are sadly the same.
My fear, expressed earlier, that we will not move beyond the talking stage is, unfortunately, well-founded. In the immediate aftermath of the
disaster, the government leaders called for measures and sanctions. What has become of this willingness to take action? Now that the proposals have been tabled, we see a very inadequate implementation of the measures in the Member States, and I find out that the Council of Ministers has unanimously rejected the introduction of criminal sanctions. My work on a report will therefore be in vain. The question that will dominate the next couple of weeks is, how the Commission, Parliament and the Council can be persuaded to adopt a consistent policy. An open debate with the Council would be a good start. Fortunately, the Commissioner has said that she did not want to be on the sidelines. Commissioner, we are watching a game where the players seem to be standing still. The above demonstrates that I am in favour of action, and this is why I do not identify all that well with the amendments that have been tabled in favour of setting up a committee of inquiry about the past. As I have already stated, we have inquired long enough, we must now implement the measures we have been talking about. What we need is a task force."@en1
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