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France, Portugal and Spain urge EU to speed up single-hull oil tanker ban
LISBON,
7th February 2003 (AFP)
France, along with Spain and Portugal, on Friday urged the European Union to speed up moves to toughen maritime safety rules and ban single-hulled tankers from European ports.
Shortly after the Prestige tanker sank off northwest Spain in November, EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio vowed to put forward a law that would introduce new maritime safety rules and ban all single-hulled tankers older than 15 years from European Union waters by 2010.
But at a meeting of EU transport ministers in December there was little agreement among the 15 member states -- some with sizeable interests in the shipping sector -- on what new tanker safety measures should be adopted.
Current EU president Greece, which has the EU's largest merchant fleet, said last month the proposed new measures needed to be studied more carefully before they are adopted.
French President Jacques Chirac, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and his Spanish counterpart Jose Maria Aznar however signed a letter urging their EU partners to come to an agreement on the issue at an upcoming meeting of transport ministers scheduled for March 27.
"This demand is indispensable when you consider that if the new norms had already been in place, the Prestige accident would not have taken place," the three leaders said in the letter which was sent to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Thursday according to the Lusa news agency.
The sunken single-hulled tanker Prestige, which was carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil when it broke up and sank on November 19, has spewed thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil that has washed up in Spain and France.
Portugal drew up a clean-up plan immediately after the accident but favourable winds have largely spared the country's coasts from pollution from the tanker.
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