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Since 1990, ten or so major accidents mainly involving tankers have struck the European

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Union shores, often with dramatic results for the coastal environment and economy.

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There is all the more cause for concern because 90% of the petroleum traded with the European

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Union is transported by sea. Does that mean nothing works for the transport of black gold?

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It may come as a surprise to you, but maritime oil transfers are probably one of the safest

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means in this sector. It is no less so that the general public does not have this perception

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simply because accidents, when they occur, have particularly spectacular consequences

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and are perceived extremely negatively by an exasperated public opinion, which we understand.

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What is important for a freighter today is not the quality of a ship, it is the price

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of daily returns. So if you offer him a boat for $2,000 a day or a boat for $4,000, it

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is easy to understand that the freighter will choose a ship for $2,000. Ships today sail

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with a daily cost of $2,500, whereas the cost of a daily ship is $3,000. So, inevitably,

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it is impossible for these people to keep their ships in good condition.

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We see that oil products that have a high value, such as gas and kerosene, are generally

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transported by quality ships. And I have very few accidents that concern them, whereas

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ships that transport heavy fuel, which are among oil products, those that have the lowest

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unit value, will be affected by less efficient units.

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It's hardly an exaggeration to say that heavy fuel oil goes hand in hand with old tankers.

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Old tankers with damage, and you can imagine the rest. The root of the problem? Unscrupulous

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flags and operators, which give a bad name to the whole sector. With its thousands of

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kilometres of coastline and the world's busiest sea routes, the European Union is

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particularly vulnerable. It has therefore decided to adopt its own legislation on maritime

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safety, to force and improve compliance with international maritime organisation rules

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on its territory.

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The difference between international rules and community rules is that on the international

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level there is no control, no sanctions and no tribunal. For example, the rules of the

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OMI can be perfect, but there is no auditing capacity to go and check if the countries

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respect the rules. This is the reason why the European Union, to protect its coasts,

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has decided to take back its international norms in the community legislation and to

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control its respect. And when the states do not respect, for example, the norms in terms

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of safety controls in the ports, well, they are sent to the court of justice, which will

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not fail to condemn them, and if they do not respect, they will be subject to restraints.

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The ship control regulation is one such example in community law. Theoretically, the IMO obliges

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all countries to perform checks on the state of vessels registered under their flag. Many,

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however, apply the rule too leniently. Europe has therefore introduced an additional level

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of control. The countries of the European Union are now required to inspect at least

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25% of the vessels putting in at their ports. Any ship found to be in serious violation

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is immobilized until it is brought into compliance. Statistically, 10% of the vessels controlled

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fall into this category. Cooperation by the member states is the only way to rid community

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waters of unfit vessels. In parallel, the European Union has introduced a community

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approval for the classification societies that issue seaworthiness certificates for

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vessels. Unless they have such approval, classification societies will no longer be able to work on

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behalf of European states.

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So we said to the member states, either it is you who are going to do the checks on the structure

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of the vessels, you ensure that on the technical level they have been well built, that they are

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well maintained, or if you continue to delegate it to classification societies, they must be

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better controlled. And to better control their work, the Commission proposed to the Council

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of Ministers in Parliament, which finally accepted it, that when these societies do

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not do their work well, because we will have seen for example that a vessel that they

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controlled did not resist a storm, well the Commission will be able to withdraw the accreditation

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of the classification society. And we know very well that in the past there were classification

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societies that made extremely miniscule checks, if I may say so.

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Outside of the classification societies that take their responsibilities seriously, how

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many others certify floating wrecks, even if this is never actually spelled out?

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There are certain flags which, at least my society, say no thanks to. There are certain

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flags we do not want to work for.

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That's not all. Immediately after the Erika disaster, the European Union decided to clamp

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down again, adapting two more packages of measures.

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The use of double hull vessels is at present recognised as an effective preventive measure

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to keep an accident from turning into a catastrophe.

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A very tight timeframe was initially proposed by the European Commission for the phasing

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out of single hull vessels, but the Council of Ministers did not unanimously support it.

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The prestige was 26 years old. Under this proposal, it would have had to been withdrawn

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from activity in September 2002, well before its sinking.

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In three months, a complete package of measures was released.

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Everyone said that this was what had to be done for a long time.

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The states finally accepted it, but at the last moment they said,

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Mr. Le Bourreau, five more minutes.

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And simply, the prestige affair shows that these deadlines were far too long.

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So now we understand.

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So rather than making directives that require transpositions by the national parliaments

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for 18 months, two years, for new measures, for example the prohibition of heavy fuel

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transport by single-hull oil vessels, a measure that we have just proposed,

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at the request of the European Council, we have chosen the path of a regulation

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that, as soon as it is adopted, will be mandatory in all its elements,

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in the entire European Union, without the need to take measures of application at the national level.

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By February 2004, the Member States must have transposed into their national laws

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all the ERICA measures adopted by the European Union.

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In Nice in December 2000, the heads of state nonetheless agreed to step up the process.

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How many did? Virtually none.

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To date, the establishment of the European Maritime Safety Agency

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is the only measure actually brought forward.

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Its role will be to provide the Commission and Member States

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technical support in maritime safety matters.

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Let me give two examples.

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The Prestige accident, the tanker went down,

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and everybody says there should be a policy of ports of refuge.

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You cannot just by law say there have to be these places of refuge.

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Member States experts need to sit together and work together to develop this concept.

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Another example, following the ERICA already,

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it was concluded that we need a European system around the entire European coast

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to monitor all the ships with dangerous goods moving around our coast.

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To build such a European-wide traffic monitoring system,

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you need a body for technical cooperation,

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and it is these kind of things that EMSA is going to do primarily.

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EMSA also plans to give the Agency vessels to combat oil slicks,

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and the idea of creating a European coast guard is being explored.

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But two sensitive issues remain,

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compensation for victims and penal sanctions for polluters.

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At this moment, we are taking new measures.

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New measures, following the Prestige accident,

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will, on the one hand, increase the financial responsibility,

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the compensation fund up to 1 billion euros,

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and, secondly, the proposal to impose a penal responsibility

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for cases of serious negligence in the entire transport chain.

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With the implementation of these different packages of measures,

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Europe will at last be better prepared

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to strengthen maritime safety to maximum levels along its coasts.