Mr President, I begin by paying tribute to the Council and the Commission for the efforts they have both made to reach an agreement on a text which I believe will significantly improve maritime safety. But the question that has yet to be satisfactorily answered is why did the Erika have to break up for the glaring deficiencies in maritime safety to become apparent? Indeed we only need to look at statistics produced by the Paris MOU organisation to see the appalling state of too many of the world's ships. These statistics were available long before the Erika and continue to show that standards are actually deteriorating. As rapporteur, I maintain my position that the Erika package will help to improve maritime safety but I am afraid will not prevent another Erika. I do not make that point lightly. It will only, as an amendment to an existing directive, be effective if the Member States concerned are willing to implement it effectively. If you look at the existing controls, several Member States simply fail to fulfil their legal responsibilities. I am very pleased that the Commissioner has taken swift and decisive action to try to ensure that this is no longer the case. I welcome the joint determination on the part of the institutions to toughen these measures. In particular, I recommend that we support the proposals to focus our checks on the black-listed flag states and introduce a ‘three strikes and you're out’ rule whereby a ship detained for the third time within a specific period will be banned from Europe's ports. I regret the lack of progress on the issue of the voyage data recorder, the ‘black box’. We believe, as a Parliament – and we have said this many times in the past – that this is essential for both environmental and safety reasons. We are pleased that the Commission favours, in principle, a ‘black box’ being fitted to all ships. We are pleased that the Council has made a political commitment to this effect. But what we need is not a political commitment but a legally binding commitment to ensure that these are introduced to old ships and new within five years. The case for fitting VDRs has been made very often. Indeed the IMO itself has agreed in principle that they should be fitted. Vessels fitted with voyage data recorders have a better safety awareness and a better safety record. In other words, it is not just useful after the event but contributes – in my view – to a change of the safety culture for every ship to be fitted with a ‘black box’ voyage data recorder. According to the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch, the reluctance to accept the value of data recorders and take positive measures to fit them in merchant vessels is 'a contributory factor to the poor safety record of some ships sailing today'. A ship fitted with a ‘black box’ is a safer ship. I know that the Commissioner and the Commission have worked hard to try to seek a compromise in this very difficult and complex area. I would welcome tonight a report back on progress with regard to reaching a satisfactory compromise on the particular issue of the ‘black box’. The public simply will not understand why, after so many tragic events at sea – the Herald of Free Enterprise, the Scandinavian Star, the Estonia, the Erika and many others – we cannot just get on and fit ‘black box’ voyage data recorders. Finally, I thank my Parliamentary colleagues for the assistance they have given me over the past few months in preparing this report. I say that to colleagues from all political parties, from all Member States. I also look to them for continued support through the codecision process. This, I believe, will be the first time in the field of maritime safety that we as an institution will be using the new powers granted to us by the Amsterdam Treaty. Let us use them so that we can look in the eye the families that have lost loved ones at sea and say to them that we will not compromise on safety.

Political group: PSE