Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-10-06-Speech-3-049"
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"en.20101006.11.3-049"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, in the absence of new proposals from the Commission relating to oil exploration and extraction – an absence which I should immediately like to point out is quite legitimate since the Commission is engaged in ongoing consultations with the industry and the numerous regulatory authorities concerned – I can only reiterate here our deep concern following the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and its far too numerous human and environmental casualties. This disaster demonstrates that there cannot be too many precautions in this sector and that we must do everything we can to prevent a repeat of this type of accident.
We can only hope that, as happened after the
accident in 1989 and the
accident in 1999, the EU and US regulatory framework for offshore oil exploration and exploitation activities will be strengthened this time too. The aim is obviously not to develop a framework that is so onerous to implement that it makes these activities unprofitable, but to ensure that they are carried out safely, particularly at a time when the earth’s resources are diminishing.
While we have been awaiting legislative proposals, this issue has obviously continued to be of concern for us, and, although like others, we were pleased when the Macondo well was shut down in mid-July and finally capped on 19 September, bearing in mind the scale of the rehabilitation works to be carried out, we believe that this is just one stage in a longer process. This is why the Presidency wanted Commissioner Oettinger to share his initial assessments with us at the recent Informal Meeting of Energy Ministers from 6 to 7 September.
In our opinion, there are two things we can take away from what he said at that meeting. First of all, the safety provisions that are already in place in the EU are the most stringent in the world. Secondly, due to the fact that oil activities come under various regulatory fields, any proposals planned by the Commission will have to cover these various fields: firstly – since prevention is better than cure – we will have to improve the safety standards applicable to all European waters, but we will also have to tighten up the liability regime, strengthen regulatory oversight and step up international cooperation, for example, with our OPEC partners, as we already did in June.
An initial communication from the Commission is expected between now and mid-October, and due to the large number of fields it must cover – which I mentioned just now – it will need to be discussed by several Council configurations and probably by several parliamentary committees as well. We must not, however, allow the complexity of this issue to be an excuse to postpone our response. We intend to ensure that this communication is studied as soon as it is received so that it can be tabled at Council level as quickly as possible.
With regard more specifically to environmental protection, the EU already has quite an advanced legislatory framework. The precautionary and polluter pays principles are fundamental principles of EU environmental policy and are, in fact, laid down in the treaty.
The oil spill disaster caused by that platform in the Gulf of Mexico may also represent an opportunity for the Commission and the Member States to reassess certain aspects of current environmental legislation. In this context, it should be remembered, for example, that the Seveso II Directive is currently being revised, and that we are awaiting a proposal from the Commission before the end of the year.
I should also like to point out that the Commission is currently examining the EU’s disaster response capacity, with a view, in particular, to its improvement. We look forward to receiving this communication between now and the end of November.
Finally, I should like to confirm that the Presidency will do everything in its power to ensure that the proposals which the Commission will present to us are taken further."@en1
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