Two years after the Erika ran aground, the European Union has made considerable progress towards increasing maritime safety. Adoption of the Erika I package of measures and progress made on the Erika II package are major steps 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 Europes 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, will continue its efforts and propose follow-up measures to complete these rules and banish the spectre of a new Erika disaster, said Mrs Loyola de Palacio, Commission Vice-President responsible for energy and transport. It is now up to the Member States to apply the new rules adopted by the EU with full force.
Date: 2001-12-15