EU Discusses Maritime Safety
Since the Erika ran aground, the European Union has made considerable progress towards improving maritime safety. Adoption of the measures of the Erika I package and most of those of the Erika II package is a major step towards putting effective rules into place to increase maritime safety and to counter the risks of oil spills. Thanks to these measures substandard ships and floating rust buckets should disappear from Europe's waters within two years. "The EU now has one of the best sets of maritime safety rules in the world, and these measures must be put into place with the utmost resolution and speed. The Commission, for its part…
European Commission Posts Blacklist
The European Commission published the names of substandard ships which would be banned if the new European maritime safety rules had already entered into force. The EU has also proposed to prohibit, the carriage of heavy fuel oil in single-hull oil tankers, and wants the Member States to give their views on this new measure at the next European Council to be held in Copenhagen on December 12 and 13. In addition to these key aspects of the "Prestige" Communication, the Commission is formally requesting the Member States to speed up and even implement ahead of schedule the maritime safety measures adopted following the Erika disaster three years ago so as to protect Europe's coasts and citizens against further disasters…