Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-166"
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"en.20071010.19.3-166"2
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"Madam President, first of all, with regard to the question that was raised by Ms Doyle: yes, I would like to reiterate the fact that we have received significant support from the scientific community. The Aberdeen Declaration was very welcome, and Ireland itself was extremely supportive. On the remark that was made, I would like to stress that this is not my initiative: it is a Commission decision that has been adopted and, irrespective of the persons involved, there will certainly be continuity. If, in the first two years, we manage to register some success, I am sure that the new Commission will be more than willing to take up those successes. So it is a crucial two-year period, where we need to see that the initial seeds for a future maritime policy do actually start to grow. In that way, we can guarantee that future Commissions, with the support of the European Parliament, with the support of the Committee of the Regions and, I am sure, with the support of the Council of Ministers, will be able to bring this maritime policy to fruition.
On the second question that was raised regarding inland waterways, there is no doubt that inland waterways are a very important part of the whole concept of a maritime policy, just as the coasts and the coastal areas are a very integral part of a maritime policy. In fact, next week Vice-President Barrot is going to present a package which covers internal waters, including a ports policy and therefore going into internal ports as well. So the whole parameters concerning waterways and ports – even inland ports – are part of this package that will be presented next week.
On the question raised by Mr Ortuondo Larrea concerning military activities, whether they are to be included in the Community policy, one needs to underline the fact that, here, we are entering into a very sensitive area concerning the sovereignty of Member States. Therefore, one needs to be careful. If you want this maritime policy to succeed, we should do it hand in hand with the Member States. Where Member States are willing to take steps in the direction, for example, of joint activities with regard to national coastguard services, concerning questions on the environment, questions with regard to fisheries, questions with regard to illegal immigration, questions concerning drug trafficking and trafficking of human beings, then in those instances I think that there is a lot of scope for having a system of national coastguards coordinated in a more effective and efficient way by, for example, sharing the assets that different Member States enjoy, by exchanging data and by creating necessary tools, including for example sea mapping, which could be an asset for coastguard and other activities. But, on the other hand, if we go into very sensitive military aspects, then that could be more difficult to handle. My underlying message is, if we want an integrated maritime policy to succeed, we have to do so hand in hand with the Member States, who, after all, have the primary responsibility for ensuring that the necessary instruments are in place for such a policy to succeed.
On the question concerning the Baltic Sea, there is no doubt, as I said in a previous reply, the maritime policy needs to take into account the specific features or characteristics of the different maritime regions of the European Union. Therefore, if there are particular problems, as there are, with regard to the Baltic Sea, then the maritime policy has to create the tools in order to tackle those problems of the Baltic Sea. Therefore, if there are particular ecological problems in the Baltic Sea that need to be addressed and that can be addressed in some way or other, then we should do our utmost in order to do so. For example, with regard to fisheries, we are taking measures in order to try to attain, against various odds, sustainable fisheries in the Baltic. We are also taking measures with regard to the Baltic in order to try to reverse the problems that there are concerning maritime transport traffic routes through the Baltic Sea. Therefore an integrated approach to maritime affairs would certainly mean that we look at all these problems and try to bring about more coordination between the different stakeholders, between the different Member States and also third countries like Russia, with regard to the Baltic, so that in that way we can achieve a better result with regard to the management of the different sectoral areas concerning the Baltic."@en1
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