Resolution accepted at the 13th EGP Council, Tallinn, Estonia, October 8-10, 2010
Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to work with industry and regulators towards securing the highest safety and security standards uniformly across all EU oil platforms and drilling operations in the EU, and, in cooperation with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), to seek actively to strengthen international safety and control rules and standards.
The recent tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has shown the world what dramatic consequences these events can bring about for millions of people, from the environmental, social, and economic point of view.
Whereas in the light of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico it is imperative on the EU and its Member States urgently to examine all aspects of oil extraction and exploration and other forms of seabed exploitation in the European Union and to take all necessary steps thereafter, to ensure that such an environmental catastrophe will not occur in EU waters.
Despite the magnitude of such a disaster, caused by the irresponsibility of BP, this oil company has brazenly continued with its policy of "business as usual", and has just signed a deal with the Libyan authorities to start drilling for oil in Libyan territory, just a few hundred kilometres from the EU countries of Malta and Italy. Similar off-shore oil projects are also being initiated or continued across Europe, especially in the North Sea area.
Therefore, calls on the European Commission in particular to review the EU ́s capacity for immediate response to accidents involving offshore installations and to develop a European action plan in cooperation with Member States;
Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to work with industry and regulators towards securing the highest safety and security standards uniformly across all EU oil platforms and drilling operations in the EU, and, in cooperation with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), to seek actively to strengthen international safety and control rules and standards.
In particular, the time constraints and standards set would be in accord with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires the seas within EU jurisdiction to have achieved "good environmental status" by 2020.
Urges the Commission and the Member States to introduce a moratorium on oil drilling in EU waters until such standards have been secured across the EU; Calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce a ban on all deep sea [under a depth of 500 meters] exploration and exploitation, especially with regard to the Arctic.
Guarantees that full liability rests with the polluter in relation to any damage caused by such activities including damage to the terrestrial and marine environments ; and secures the protection of European marine biodiversity.
Furthermore, the European Green Party calls for changes in legislation to prohibit the use of "flags of convenience" on oil platforms located in EU waters, to prohibit oil drilling in protected marine areas in the EU.
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