Brussels, 19/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The dossier on criminal sanctions for maritime pollution is still blocked within the Council, and will be brought before the European Council of 17 December if the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers do not reach agreement on 2 and 3 December. After the short JHA Council on Friday, where this dossier took up most of the two hours of meeting time, the Dutch Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner once again stated that the problem stemmed from Greece, Cyprus and Malta. These three countries are calling upon the Council to set a maximum level for the criminal sanctions (of 3 million EUR), and are generally opposed to this text, which goes further than the international conventions in force, and which they believe will punish their maritime industries. Greece moreover sent its minister for merchant shipping, Manolis Kefaloyiannis, to the meeting. The Spanish Minister of the Interior, José Antonio Alonso, on the other hand, told the press that two years to the day after the Prestige disaster, it is absolutely vital for the EU to set out joint penal norms to sanction pollution caused by shipping.
The Presidency offered Greece, Cyprus and Malta an extra three years to apply the framework decision. By specifying the level of the sanctions, this framework decisions completes the directive on which the Transport Council reached a common position, and which is now in the hands of the European Parliament (EUROPE of 12 October).
The international Marpol convention allows stricter rules to be applied in territorial water than international law calls for, explained an expert. This allows sanctions in the form of fines to be imposed, whatever the origin of the ship responsible for the pollution or the flag it flies. This also allows prison sentences to be applied, but only in cases of ships flying the flag of the country ruling on the case. The Convention permits reinforced cooperation within a given region, which allows Member States of the EU to decide whether they consider ships from other Member States as national ships. Thus, if pollution is caused by a ship flying the flag of another Member State, prisons sentences are possible, as well as fines. If the flag is that of a third country, fines can be imposed, but not prison sentences.