Madam President, in a few days time Europe will mark the first anniversary of the loss of the oil tanker, Erika. Since then, sadly, there have been many other disasters at sea, we know only too well. Before the Erika sank, many other ships sank as well, with the loss of oil, other cargoes, or tragically, the loss of lives of crew or passengers. The lesson for this Parliament this morning must be that we have to conclude that maritime laws throughout the world are in a state of shambles and we have to begin the process of putting them right. In that context, I wish to pay tribute to the Commission for bringing forward this ‘Erika’ package to try and right some of those wrongs, to try and prevent another Erika occurring. We also pay tribute to the French Presidency, in particular the minister, for his determination to ensure that, in a very brief period of time, we truly learn the lessons of the Erika and make sure that they are applied to prevent an Erika-type disaster occurring again. Without the minister’s determination, without the determination of the French Presidency, the IMO's working committee would not have agreed with us that single-hull tankers should be phased out rapidly throughout the world. So I pay particular tribute to them for that achievement, which I hope is confirmed by the full IMO assembly very soon. The main problem throughout the world is not the lack of maritime laws but the lack of the willingness of countries throughout the world to enforce them. For example, I am afraid that the whole history of port state control is the lack of willingness of Member States within the European Union and beyond to implement port state control adequately. That is why we welcome the amendment to the directive because it gives us the ability to make sure people implement the port state control Directive effectively. However, in my view as rapporteur, the proposal from the Commission simply does not go far enough. It is not strong enough. In our view, if implemented, the Commission's proposal would allow another Erika to occur. That is why this morning we cannot agree with the Commission's proposal but we are putting forward four proposals which we believe will significantly strengthen the proposal and would therefore secure this Parliament's support. Firstly, we agree that there needs to be enhanced compulsory inspections of the most dangerous ships. We all agree on that, but we have to find the methodology by which that particular priority can be implemented, and we have yet to secure an agreement between the three institutions on that. I think it is within sight but we need to be sure that this agreement will be enforced. Secondly, we make a demand again this morning for 'black box' style voyage data recorders to be fitted, not on just some ships or new ships, or in 10 or 20 years time, or whenever the IMO eventually agrees. We want black boxes in all ships as soon as possible. That is a very clear, fundamental demand, which we are not willing to compromise on. Thirdly, we support, and there is a great amount of support, that a dangerous ship should not simply be detained and then allowed to return to sea. If you are detained three times in a period of 24 months or 36 months, then you should be banned for life – three strikes and you are out. There must be a clear signal to sub-standard ships that we will not tolerate them in European waters or in European ports. Finally, we have a clear message to the flags of convenience, the black-listed states. Countries like the Lebanon, Liberia, Syria, Azerbaijan, Albania, whose fleets we all know in our hearts are unacceptable overall. Seventy, eighty, ninety per cent of their ships have serious defects. We cannot tolerate a situation where these rogue flag states continue to allow their ships to sail the seven seas. We must as a Parliament express our clear view that in a matter of years we simply will not allow them in. Again I hope that we can find a compromise between the three institutions to secure the objectives which I know we all share. We must eliminate dangerous ships. We must protect our environment and, ultimately, we must save lives at sea.

Political group: PSE