European Parliament
Grossetête (PPE-DE ),
in writing
(FR)
I have voted in favour of this report.
There is absolutely no question here of one Member State in particular being targeted; what we are trying to do is to become aware of the loopholes that exist in the implementation of the Erika I and Erika II packages, to discover the reasons for the delays in the texts’ transposition and to resolve them.
There is still a considerable risk of seeing ‘floating dustbins’ – genuine weapons of mass destruction – continuing to pollute our coastlines, destroy our beaches, attack our fisheries resources, massacre birds and bring our economies to a standstill. As we know, such destruction cannot be repaired simply by throwing subsidies at it.
The European Union does, however, have a legislative arsenal at its disposal in the field of maritime safety. These texts must be transposed, harmonised and fully implemented. There has been too much shilly-shallying. Today, no State with a coastline should fail to respond to this call, and this is why I have voted the way I have.
Lastly, I wish to make an observation on the possible establishment of a European coastguard service. I am in favour of such a development.

