Conference on the 20th anniversary of the Prestige
The Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament will tomorrow host a conference on the 20th anniversary of the Prestige disaster.
Twenty years after the Prestige disaster, which flooded the Galician coast with coil, EFA MEP Ana Miranda believes that it is essential to review the application of European maritime safety regulations in the different states, taking into account that the Spanish State does not comply with part of the regulations approved after the shipwreck.
The conference will analyse the Prestige accident and its economical and ecological consequences for the Galician coast
The Galician MEP also denounces the lack of transparency inside the CleanSeaNet system part of EMSA during all these years.
EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) service, which began operating in 2007, consists of a satellite monitoring system that detects and monitors marine spills in European waters and allows the location, tracking and identification of the vessel responsible. Their National Rescue Plan 2021-24 states that 178 vessels suspected of dumping at sea were detected in 2019, but since 2007 there has been no information available in Spain on the sanctioning proceedings that were opened, nor the number of administrative or criminal sanctions imposed.
The conference will also look into other European maritime catastrophes such as the “Erika” accident in the coasts of Brittany, with the presence of Marie Toussaint MEP,Jean-Ronan Le Pen, the President of the Committee on Fisheries, former Vice-President of the "Merci Erika" Association of Brittany, Pierre Karleskind, Vice-President of Brittany at the time of the shipwreck of the Erika.
EFA MEP Ana Miranda said:
"It is essential to review the application of maritime safety regulations in Spain and the rest of Europe".
"No matter how much the regulations are changed, it is of little use if there are not sufficient means to foresee or mitigate the risks posed by the flag of convenience ships that pass through the Costa da Morte every day".
"Fifteen years after this service has been in operation there are no statistics on the number and type of spills detected by the CSN system, or the ships identified, so we see a total lack of transparency in the information”
