EN Official Journal of the European Union C 327/108

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Proposal on multiannual funding for the action of the European Maritime Safety Agency in the field of response to pollution caused by ships and to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations’

COM(2013) 174 final — 2013/0092 COD

2013/C 327/18

Rapporteur: Dr BREDIMA

On 16 April and 18 April 2013, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union respectively decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on the

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Proposal on multiannual funding for the action of the European Maritime Safety Agency in the field of response to pollution caused by ships and to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations

COM(2013) 174 final.

The Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 20 June 2013.

At its 491th plenary session, held on 10 and 11 July 2013 (meeting of 10 July), the European Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 179 votes to 1, with 3 abstentions.

1. Conclusions

1.1 The EESC supports the budget increase of EMSA under the proposed Regulation from EUR 154 million to EUR 160.5 million for the period from 2014 to 2020. It reiterates its support for the extension of competence of EMSA under Regulation 100/2013.

1.2 Adoption of the proposed Regulation comes at a critical moment regarding the discovery of oil and gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and consequent initiatives for their speedy exploitation through offshore drilling. These activities will pose a challenge to EMSA's capabilities in responding to the potential hazards of offshore drilling and transportation of oil and gas.

1.3 Whilst supporting the financial envelope proposed, the EESC believes that it may prove insufficient to meet the actions required in the seven year period in view of the following challenges: increased traffic flows (more oil tankers and gas carriers at sea), increased drilling activities for oil and gas exploitation in the seas surrounding the EU, more coastal and island states have become EU Member States The limited emergency response capacity may result in increased external costs in case of major incidents.

1.4 The EESC believes that the deployment of the current 19 vessels may be insufficient for the entire EU coastal areas to assist Member States capability to clean up pollution at sea. The funding may also prove insufficient in further developing the satellite images to detect, and help recovering pollutants emitted by ships in the entire EU area.

1.5 The EESC prompts EMSA to deploy its newly acquired competence to contribute to the fight against maritime piracy. EMSA satellite surveillance instruments will be most useful in detecting pirate ships.

1.6 The EESC wonders if EU Member States and neighbouring countries are still properly equipped to respond to major accidents of the magnitude of Erika and Prestige, or disasters similar to the Deepwater Horizon.

1.7 The EESC invites the EU, its Member States and the new neighbouring coastal states to strengthen the implementation of the following regional Conventions enumerated in the explanatory Memorandum of the proposed Regulation: the Helsinki Convention, the Barcelona Convention, the Bonn Agreement, the OSPAR Convention, the Lisbon Agreement (which has still to enter into force) and the Bucharest Convention.

1.8 The EESC invites EMSA action to trace down inadequate reception facilities for oil residues to EU ports as well as to ports of neighbouring states.

2. The European Commission's proposal

2.1 On 3 April 2013 the European Commission submitted a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on multiannual funding for the action of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in the field of response to pollution caused by ships and to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations (1).

2.2 Regulation 2038/2006 (2) (18 December 2006) established a multiannual funding for the action of EMSA in response to pollution caused by ships from 1 January 2007–31 December 2013.

2.3 Regulation 100/2013 (15 January 2013) assigned to EMSA new "core" tasks: to respond to pollution caused by oil and gas installations and extended EMSA's services to countries covered by the enlargement policy and by the European Neighbourhood Policy (3). The present opinion is mainly assessing the adjusting of the EMSA financing to its new duties. The proposed funding amounts to EUR 160.5 million for a seven year period (1 January 2014-31 December 2020).

3. General comments

3.1 The EESC supports the budget increase of EMSA under the proposed Regulation from EUR 154 million to EUR 160.5 million for the period from 2014 to 2020. It reiterates its support for the extension of competence of EMSA under Regulation 100/2013. This support is in line with a series of EESC opinions (4) regarding the role of EMSA.

3.2 Regulation 100/2003 gives EMSA the competence to intervene with regard to oil spills caused by offshore oil and gas platforms, apart from ship generated pollution. This competence was given in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform oil spill and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico (April 2010). The EESC understands that the general objective of the Commission's proposal is to ensure effective EU assistance for response to pollution caused by ships and to pollution caused by oil and gas installations by EMSA providing sustainable pollution response services to affected States. Member States can therefore take such support into consideration when elaborating/reviewing their national plans for marine pollution response.

3.3 The EESC understands that the proposed budget is destined to enable EMSA to maintain its network of Stand-by Oil Spill Response divided among EU maritime areas and that a limited amount of new combating vessels will be deployed to fight pollution caused by ships and offshore installations. It is also expected that funding will not be available for enhanced oil recovery equipment which may potentially become sub-optimal in the period 2014 to 2020.

3.4 The EESC understands that CleanSeaNet monitoring of oil offshore installations for illegal discharges will be mainly performed by co-utilising satellite images as ordered for ship pollution monitoring. The EESC recalls a past opinion (5) stating that "given the high costs entailed in a satellite imagery service, the EESC believes that use of resources needs to be optimised and, in particular, that the use of images needs to be coordinated between Member States; this could lead to considerable cost-savings. At the same time, there are grounds for investment to improve image-gathering in all European maritime areas, as current coverage is not genuinely comprehensive, particularly in the Mediterranean area."

3.5 The EESC understands that the funding will not be destined to provide technical assistance and or capacity building in partner countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

3.6 Adoption of the proposed Regulation comes at a critical moment regarding the discovery of new sources of energy for the EU. In the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, in particular, the discovery of new oil and gas deposits underwater and the consequent drilling for their speedy exploitation will pose a challenge to EMSA's capabilities in responding to the potential hazards involved. More resources should be made available to EMSA in order to play its full role in that respect. The increase in the traffic of ships and in particular tankers/LNG's, the discovery of new deposits of oil and gas and the concomitant drilling activities will require many more vessels in the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Nineteen vessels for the entire EU coastline for the period 2014-2020 is a very optimistic estimate which may prove extremely modest in the circumstances.

3.7 The extension of EMSA's competence in the above area will require further development of the satellite imagery service for surveillance, the early detection of pollution and identification of responsible ships or oil and gas installations. The availability of data and effectiveness of the response to pollution should be improved.

3.8 The EESC wonders if EU Member States and neighbouring countries are still properly equipped to respond to major accidents of the magnitude of Erika and Prestige, or disasters similar to the Deepwater Horizon.

3.9 In light of the above considerations, the EESC believes that more resources should be earmarked in order to: replace oil pollution response equipment on board contracted vessels, provide additional stand-by oil recovery vessels to cover areas with offshore installations which are not currently within reasonable geographical range (e.g., the Arctic), buy additional dispersant capabilities and equipment for offshore spills, extend CleanSeaNet services to areas with offshore installations, and cover support to assist European Neighbourhood Policy countries.

3.10 The EESC prompts EMSA to deploy its newly acquired competence to contribute to the fight against maritime piracy. The EMSA instruments and data, especially the satellite surveillance, will be useful in detecting pirate ships. The provision of ship positioning data should become one of EMSA's key tasks, but always at the request of national authorities. The EESC reiterates the need for assistance by EMSA in the fight against piracy as per its opinion on Piracy at sea: strengthening the EU response (16 January 2013) and relevant Public Hearing (24 January 2013).

4. Specific comments

4.1 Article 2: Definitions

The definition of "oil" under the proposed Regulation refers to the definition of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation 1990. The EESC invites the EU and its Member States to strengthen the implementation of this Convention.

4.2 Article 2: Definitions

The definition of "hazardous and noxious substances" refers to the definition of the Protocol of Preparedness, Response and Cooperation to Pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances 2000. The EESC invites the EU and its Member States that have not done so to accede and implement the above Protocol.

4.3 Article 4: Union Funding

4.3.1 The EESC understands that EMSA's support to countries covered by the enlargement policy and the EU Neighbourhood Policy should be financed through existing EU programmes for these countries and not be part of this multiannual financial framework.

4.3.2 Whilst supporting the financial envelope proposed, the EESC doubts whether it will be sufficient to meet the actions required in the seven year period in view of challenges looming: increased traffic flows (more oil tankers and gas carriers), and increased drilling activities for oil and gas exploitation in the seas surrounding the EU. The reduced emergency response capacity may result in increased external costs in case of major incidents.

4.4 Article 5: Monitoring Existing Capabilities

Regarding the list of public and private pollution response mechanisms in the EU, the EESC urges action to include similar mechanisms of the neighbouring non EU coastal states, since maritime pollution has no frontiers. Moreover, although the present opinion is confined to accidental pollution, the EESC would invite EMSA action to trace down inadequate reception facilities to EU ports as well as to ports of neighbouring coastal states. Operational pollution – as contrasted to accidental pollution – is much less mediagenic and sensational but has a much larger share of the overall pollution of the seas.

4.5 The EESC invites the EU, its Member States and the new neighbouring coastal states to strengthen the implementation of the following regional Conventions enumerated in the explanatory Memorandum of the proposed Regulation: the Helsinki Convention, the Barcelona Convention, the Bonn Agreement, the OSPAR Convention, the Lisbon Agreement (which has still to enter into force) and the Bucharest Convention. The EESC believes that pollution combating exercises (jointly) organised by these Conventions should be further promoted and exchange of experts in the field of marine pollution is felt to be essential. The EMSA programme EMPOLLEX (Marine Pollution Expert Exchange Programme) should therefore facilitate an increased number of such exchanges between Member States.

4.6 The EESC reiterates the need for neighbouring coastal states to fully implement the "mother" of maritime Conventions, the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) (1982) providing the legal basis for action on maritime pollution, drilling of the seabed and environmentally safe transportation by sea.

4.7 The contracted vessels have large recovered oil storage capacities and a choice of oil recovery systems. The EESC believes that contracted vessels by EMSA should be allowed to be used for lightering operations, ship to ship transfer, to store recovered oil at sea.

Brussels, 10 July 2013. The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Henri MALOSSE

(1) COM(2013) 174 final.

(2) OJ L 394, 30.12.2006, p. 1.

(3) OJ L 39, 9.2.2013, p. 30.

(4) OJ C 76, 14.3.2013, p. 15.

OJ C 299, 4.10.2012, p 153.

OJ C 48, 15.2.2011, p. 81.

OJ C 44, 11.2.2011, p. 173.

OJ C 255, 22.9.2010, p. 103.

OJ C 277, 17.11.2009, p. 20.

OJ C 211, 19.8.2008, p. 31.

OJ C 28, 3.2.2006, p. 16.

OJ C 108, 30.4.2004, p. 52.

(5) OJ C 28, 3.2.2006, p. 16.