Brussels, 10/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - After the EU Transport Ministers (see below), their colleagues for the Environment, meeting in Brussels on Monday, discussed the provisions to adopt in the short and medium-term following the disaster of the "Prestige". In its conclusions, the Environment Council asks the Commission immediately to establish, in co-operation with the Member States concerned, an expert team to help co-ordinate assistance offered by Member States, and examine the long-term effects of the damage resulting from the oil slick and from the remaining oil in the wreck. Margot Walstrom and Jaume Matas, European Commissioner and Spanish Minister responsible for the environment, confirmed the agreement they reached on Friday when the Commissioner visited Galicia, by which the Commission will, in the framework of the Community Civil Protection Mechanism and in collaboration with Member States, set up an expert team to co-ordinate assistance offered by Member States: an initial meeting, in which representatives of the Commission, Spain, France and Portugal, were to participate was scheduled for 10 December. The agreement also provides for the launch of a study on the environmental consequences of the oil slick and possible or probable effects of the fuel still contained in the wreck, co-funded by the Commission and Spain (to the tune 600,000 euro). In its conclusions, the Council also urges Member States to provide themselves with the necessary logistics to immediately tackle disasters of the type of the "Prestige" and proposes the creation of common mechanism by which all parties concerned (oil companies, shipowners, charterers, insurance companies, etc.) provide the means, not only to prevent, but also to efficiently combat such ecological disasters.
The Council also urges the Commission to examine the possibilities offered by the regulation on the new EU Solidarity Fund for the immediate financing of the damaged areas, including natural areas. Ministers underpinned the need to guarantee adequate protection of sensitive maritime and coastal areas or with special ecological value, and calls on the Commission to evaluate possible protection measures, including measures like the reviewing the safety conditions of maritime transport of heavy grades of fuel.