WRITTEN QUESTION E-3521/97 by Carlos Robles Piquer (PPE) to the Commission (12 November 1997)

Subject: Panama Canal

In the year 2000, the United States are to hand over the Panama Canal to the republic of the same name, restoring to it full sovereignty. An international conference was held there in the past month to consider the future of this important waterway, which owes its existence to the inventiveness of the French engineer Lesseps.

What part did the European Union play at the conference, and how does the Commission consider that the EU might cooperate in the future to ensure that the Panama Canal continues to perform the function played by it since it was opened?

Answer given by Mr Marín on behalf of the Commission (3 December 1997)

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties the Panamanian authorities held a Universal Congress of the Panama Canal (Panama, 7-10 September 1997). Government representatives, canal users and potential investors gathered to discuss the future of this important interoceanic waterway. Although attendance by Member States was lower than originally foreshadowed - no European minister attended - there was clear recognition of the participation and speech by the Vice-President of the Commission in charge of relations with Latin America. He underlined both the Community's confidence in the determination and ability of Panama to assume from the year 2000 the new responsibilities that will fall to it in the management of the canal, and reaffirmed the interest and support of the Community with regard to problems with this strategic interoceanic waterway.

The Vice-President also mentioned in his speech the Community's support for organising the Universal Congress, for the establishment of a museum of the Canal and for setting up, in the former Canal Zone, a technology park as part of the 'Ciudad del saber'. In the same speech he also announced the chief results of a study, financed by the Commission, aimed at helping to select the future alternative to the canal.

Two important results emerge from the proceedings of the Congress. First was a general realisation of the need to enlarge the Canal. Its capacity needs to be increased to meet the rise in world maritime traffic. As it stands the Canal is likely to reach saturation point around 2010. Secondly, the future alternative to the Canal has been selected: a new set of locks taking 150 000 tonne ships, for the present Canal can only handle 65 000 tonners (compared with the 150 000 tonne ships which can currently pass through the Suez Canal). Since ten years will be needed to carry out the work (at an estimated cost of USD 8 billion or ECU 7 300 billion) and the engineering of a work on this scale will have to be spread of several years, a relatively short period is available to build this third set of locks.

Since these were exactly the finding of the Community-financed study, it may be emphasised that the Vice-President of the Commission anticipated the conclusion of the Congress in his opening speech.

Failure to adapt the Canal to the new demands of maritime trade would inexorably lead to the marginalisation of this interoceanic route, to the benefit of others, some of which, like rail carriage of containers in the United States, are already operational.

With regard to future cooperation between the Community and Panama, it has to be emphasised that the country now offers a very wide range of opportunities for increased economic cooperation: on the one hand, economic reform and liberalisation; on the other, the return of the canal and the former Canal Zone, whose purpose is now redefined in strictly economic and geo-economic terms. European technical assistance could be provided for developing economic projects in the returned areas, e.g. tourist facilities, ports, goods and storage forwarding centres. Special aid could be contemplated to help Panama through this transitional period: administration and management of the waterway; forward studies on the environmental impact of enlarging the present Canal.