WRITTEN QUESTION E-0053/03

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(22 January 2003)

Subject: Political conflict between the Commission and the Council as regards political and legislative measures relating to the transport by sea of oil-based and hazardous products

In the wake of the Copenhagen European Council it is clear that a serious political conflict exists between the Commission and the Council as regards political and legislative measures relating to the transport by sea of oil-based products and other hazardous cargoes. According to its Communication on safety at sea following the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige, the Commission is intending to apply the ERIKA legislation, even returning to the original texts which laid down much stricter rules designed to bring safety to Community waters, strengthening the package which has already been approved by Parliament and the Council, and heeding calls from the College of Commissioners for specific EU legislation similar to that drawn up by the USA following the Exxon Valdez accident which occurred in Alaska in 1989. The Council, on the other hand (as demonstrated by the Transport Council agreements concluded before the Copenhagen European Council and ratified at Copenhagen), rejects such views and wishes EU legislation to continue to reflect what is laid down by the IMO, a body which certain countries with interests in the maritime sector find a more suitable forum for protecting the existing status quo, which enables oil companies and the tangled mass of international transport groups and mafias to hold sway. This status quo is extraordinarily damaging to the coastal countries of Europe whose nature and economy are threatened with destruction, as the Prestige disaster off the coast of Galicia has recently demonstrated.

What action is the Commission going to take in order to resolve this political conflict? How is it going to settle the obvious differences which exist between it and the Council? What support will it seek from the European Parliament for the purpose of resolving this conflict through the drawing up of legislation (quite apart from the primitive, ineffective and confused International Maritime Organisation rules) which will ensure that the seas are safe? What action has the Commission President, Mr Prodi, taken with a view to resolving this serious issue?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2003)

On 3 December 2002(1), following the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige, the Commission adopted a communication setting out a series of new legislative measures and Community initiatives in the field of maritime safety.

At the meeting of the Transport Council held on 6 December 2002, the Council, in its conclusions, broadly supported the Commission initiatives, some of which it sought to reinforce. These initiatives also met with a favourable reception at the Copenhagen European Summit held on 13 December 2002.

The abovementioned communication provides, on the one hand, for the speeding-up of the entry into force of the legislative measures adopted after the sinking of the ERIKA and, on the other, for the launching of initiatives the implementation of which will need to transcend the boundaries of the 15 Member States of the European Union,

thereby necessitating a debate within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Cooperation between the Commission and the IMO is a constant feature of the regulatory initiatives taken by the Union in the maritime sector with regular parliamentary involvement.

Accordingly, the Commission welcomes the support of Parliament and of the Council on this dossier and hopes that the cooperation between these two institutions will lead swiftly to the realisation of the measures envisaged.

(1) COM(2002) 681 final.