Brussels, 05/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, François Lamoureux, Director General for Energy and Transport at the European Commission, sent a letter to the Russian Ambassador with the EU, Vafsily Likhachev, calling on him to pass on to his government the concerns expressed on Monday by Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen to Commission President Prodi with regards the Stemnista oil tanker, which left a Russian port heading towards the Gulf of Finland (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.12). Loyola de Palacio, Transport Commissioner, is expected to contact the Russian Transport Minister to discuss the matter but also, on a more general level, to discuss the need to reflect upon changing European and international rules concerning maritime traffic as well as bilateral relations with regards maritime security.
The Finnish authorities consider that the meteorological conditions are extremely unfavourable in the Baltic Sea and do not wish the Russian oil tanker to enter their territorial waters. In his letter, Mr Lamoureux calls for a "satisfactory solution" to be found between Finland and Russia in order to "reconcile trading interests with the absolute need, in everyone's interest, to guarantee the safety of the traffic and protection of the marine environment". Legally, "the Commission does not have the right to act in such a case", Gilles Gantelet, Loyola de Palacio's spokesman, said on Wednesday. He explained that the oil tanker, which is carrying 110,000 tonnes of crude oil, is in conformity with the Community legislation and that, "at the present time, there is no legislation banning navigation because of certain meteorological conditions, either at Community or at international level" despite the attempts made by the Commission in the matter. The only thing that the Commission can do is to see what direction the ship takes and, where necessary, "support the Finnish decision to ban its territorial waters to the Russian tanker", Gilles Gantelet concluded. He recalled that the conclusions reached by the Transport Council on 6 December authorise a Member State to take measures to restrict the traffic of ships transporting polluting or hazardous substances within 200-mile of its coast (see EUROPE of 11 December, p.13).