Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-18-Speech-2-552"
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"en.20100518.36.2-552"2
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"I, too, welcome the Commission’s initiative. I think that it is important for us to discuss this topic, even though the accident did not occur in an area under the jurisdiction of a European Union Member State.
There are currently a huge number of platforms in Member States’ territorial waters extracting oil. This activity is expected to increase at a time when the International Energy Agency estimates that only 5% of sea oil reserves are currently known. It is important for us to see what lessons we need to learn from the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and what the current situation is in waters where similar production activities are being carried out in EU Member States. If necessary, we must also take additional measures to improve the safety of workers on these platforms, as well as further measures to prevent accidents with disastrous consequences for Europe’s vulnerable regions.
Another lesson which we must learn from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and from the past as well, is that we need to look very closely at how operating licences are granted and what current contracting practices are followed. We must ensure that companies cannot shirk from assuming responsibility. A company entering into a deal with a certain degree of risk which must be tackled with specific safety measures and can generate huge revenue must also be prepared to suffer the consequences if an accident occurs.
If you have followed the course of the inquiry into this disaster in the United States, the chain of contractual relations established between several firms allows companies to pass the buck to each other, while oil continues to pour into the sea. We cannot put up with a similar situation here. This is why we must look at the legislation in this area and make any improvements to the legislative framework so that we can ensure we reduce the risks of such an incident occurring.
Past experience shows that huge human and environmental losses remain in the wake of accidents, with the procedures for establishing liability capable of lasting for years on end. The Commission must ensure that the legislation for exploiting oil resources in safe conditions does not contain provisions which are too lax and assess to what extent this legislation needs to be amended in order to reduce the use of means of shirking responsibility."@en1
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