Ministers to water down maritime safety reforms

Date: 14/12/00

By Renée Cordes

EU GOVERNMENTS are set to reject the European Parliament's attempts to toughen up a package of maritime safety proposals, dealing a blow to one of the French presidency's key priorities.

Transport ministers will argue that MEPs' demands that ships undergo more inspections and be equipped with 'black box' voice recorders would be difficult and costly to implement, when they discuss the plans at a two-day meeting starting next Wednesday (20 December).

This is likely to set the stage for a battle between the three EU institutions on the European Commission's first maritime safety package, which was unveiled in the spring. "There are still a lot of divergences between the Parliament and the Council," said an EU source. "It looks difficult."

In March, the Commission put forward three proposals aimed at reducing disasters at sea in the wake of last year's Erika oil tanker spill. The 25-year-old, single-hull vessel broke in two off Brittany, releasing 100,000 tonnes of oil into the sea and polluting 400 kilometres of coast.

In the wake of the ecological and political fallout from the spill, France has made securing an accord on maritime safety a key goal since it took over the EU presidency in July.

In the short term, the Commission has called for improvements in the control of shipping traffic and stricter classification standards. It has also proposed a gradual phase-out of single-hull tankers.

But Euro MPs argue that these measures are inadequate. They insist governments should be allowed to ban dangerous ships from their territorial waters and not just from their ports.

They also argue that ships should be required to carry a black box like those used on aeroplanes. EU diplomats say most governments are opposed to mandatory black boxes, claiming they would do nothing to boost safety and are designed to help investigators only after a disaster has occurred.

This could spell trouble for Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, who included the requirement in her second set of proposals - adopted by the full Commission last week - along with the creation of a European maritime safety agency and better compensation for coastal pollution damage.

EU governments continue to insist that port authorities carry out a combined 3,000 annual ship inspections, half the figure called for by the Parliament.

A Commission spokesman said that while the EU executive could live with less stringent port controls at the start, it wants a commitment from member states to introduce stricter measures later.

EU governments are set to reject the European Parliament's attempts to toughen up a package of maritime safety proposals, dealing a blow to one of the French Presidency's key priorities.