WRITTEN QUESTION E-1770/03 by Dominique Vlasto (PPE-DE) to the Council. Compensation from the IOPC Fund for the damage caused by the Prestige disaster.
Date: 2003-05-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: International Maritime Organisation, aid to disaster victims, approximation of policies, financial instrument, fund (EU), indemnification, oil pollution

26.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 51 E/139

(2004/C 51 E/152)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1770/03

by Dominique Vlasto (PPE-DE) to the Council

(28 May 2003)

Subject: Compensation from the IOPC Fund for the damage caused by the ‘Prestige’ disaster

The ‘Prestige’ sank on 13 November 2002. On 9 May the IOPC Fund announced that the victims of the
‘Prestige’ oil slick would initially receive 15 % of the total estimated damages, which amount to almost
EUR 1 billion.

The author of this question shares the indignation of the victims, who, six months after the disaster, are
being offered derisory compensation for the damage and work it caused. In the ERIKA II legislative
package the Commission proposed setting up a Community compensation fund, the COPE Fund. This text
was adopted by Parliament at first reading in June 2001 and appears to have been held up in the Council
ever since.

1.

Can the Council say why the proposal has been held up?

Tax-payers in the Member States are going to have to fund the remaining compensation for the
2.
damage caused by the ‘Prestige’ wreck. The COPE Fund would have been a way of remedying this
scandalous situation. As the COPE Fund has not been established, owing to being held up in the Council,
what alternative solutions can the Council propose?

3.
Negotiations are currently under way in IOPC on the level of compensation to be paid and the
compensation procedure to be used in the case of oil slick damage. Do the European Union Member States
have a common approach in these negotiations?

Reply

(13 October 2003)

It is correct that the Commission proposed in December 2000, as part of the ‘ERIKA II’ package, the
creation of an EU fund for the compensation of oil pollution damage in European waters. After a first
discussion of this proposal, the Transport Council in December 2000 concluded that there was a need to
ensure a proper and, as far as possible, global regime for liability and compensation in cases of pollution
damage resulting from contamination by petroleum products and other noxious and hazardous substances
transported by ships. This objective should preferably be achieved through an international solution in the
context of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) creating a supplementary fund for damages
caused by oil pollution in the framework of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF).
As a consequence the examination of the Commission proposal was discontinued pending the outcome of
relevant negotiations in IMO. In view of these negotiations a common approach was agreed by Member
States and the Commission in June 2001 with a view to reaching agreement on the establishment of such
a fund as soon as possible and preferably by 2003 in the IOPCF/IMO framework.

This approach proved to be successful as a new Protocol to the existing oil pollution liability and
compensation conventions was adopted by the Diplomatic Conference on 16 May 2003. It establishes an
International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund, which amounts to a five-fold increase of
the compensation currently available to victims under the existing schemes up to a total of 750 million
Special Drawing Rights (SDR), corresponding to approximately EUR 910 million, payable for any one
incident. The new Fund is open to any member of the existing International Oil Pollution Compensation
Fund.

The protocol will be opened for signature as from 31 July 2003 and the new fund will come into existence
once the protocol has been ratified by at least eight States whose contribution to the compensation regime
corresponds to the receipt by these States of a combined total of at least 450 million tons of oil.

C 51 E/140

Official Journal of the European Union

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26.2.2004

Consequently, the ratification of this Protocol by EU Member States alone in line with Member States
undertakings as noted by both the Council (December 2002) and the European Council (March 2003)
would already allow for this instrument to take effect.

This new supplementary fund will help to ensure the full and expeditious payment of victims of future oil
spills on a global scale.

(2004/C 51 E/153)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1772/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Council

(28 May 2003)

Subject: Thessaloniki June Council meeting

Will the Council please give its view of the agenda of the June Council meeting in Thessaloniki? Will the
meeting discuss the question of EU border police, policing resources for the new EU external borders post-
enlargement, coordination of integration issues in relation to migrants, and the issue of coordination of
managed economic migration?

Reply

(2 October 2003)

The Council would refer the Honourable Member to the debate which took place at the plenary part-
session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 June 2003, during which the Council Presidency set out the agenda
for the European Council meeting in Thessaloniki on 20 and 21 June 2003.

It would also refer the Honourable Member to the conclusions of the Seville European Council, and in
particular Annex II, detailing the Council’s role in preparing for the European Council (point A.2(a)).

(2004/C 51 E/154)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1774/03

by Claude Moraes (PSE) to the Council

(28 May 2003)

Subject: Repatriation of the Structural Funds

How does the Council view the issue of repatriation of Structural Funds, i.e. Member States deciding to
some degree on their own regional allocation of the Structural Funds?

Reply

(7 October 2003)

The Council would draw the Honourable Member’s attention to the fact that, pursuant to Council
Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999 (1) of 21 June 1999 laying down general provisions on the Structural
Funds, the administration of those funds is the shared responsibility of the European Commission and the
Member States’ governments working in close cooperation.

Accordingly, the Commission negotiates and approves development programmes proposed by the Member
States and allocates the appropriations. These programmes are the result of the joint efforts of the national,
regional and local authorities, the economic and social partners and other competent bodies.