While the 'environmental damage' tort has just entered French law at the end of the Erika trial (from the name of the oil tanker which sank off the French coast in 1999), there is no denying that Europe is still sheltered from certain maritime disasters. Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot found it easy to reiterate that the Erika I and Erika II legislative packages have already allowed for the (progressive) eradication of floating rust buckets (single-hull ships), but everything is not up to scratch. It has now been three years since the European Commission presented the ambitious Erika III after the sinking of the Prestige in Spain. But member states are still dragging their feet oyer its adoption. Undeniably, out of the seven legislative proposals, five have been the subject of a political agreement of the EU27, but the question of compensation for victims (in particular) delays the implementation of this new legislative arsenal month after month. It is nonetheless by imposing high financial sanctions on ship owners, charterers and ship certification companies that they end up holding operators responsible, reiterates the Commission - without discussing the creation of 'safe havens' whose final designation is not in sight. A safe haven, however, would have allowed for a limit to the damage after the sinking of the Prestige.
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