Malta again blocks new EU maritime pollution rules

The second meeting in a row between Europe's Justice Ministers in Brussels, on Friday, did not produce any progress on a new set of maritime pollution rules proposed by the European Union. Malta, Cyprus and Greece kept up their common opposition to the new rules arguing that, if introduced, they will disadvantage their shipping industry and consequently their economy.

At the meeting Justice Minister Tonio Borg detailed Malta's objections. Malta, he later told The Sunday Times, will not give in over this issue and will keep working towards a compromise.

Dr Borg said: "we are defending our interests, as other member states did in the past. We are not doing anything anti-European, but where on other occasions we did not necessarily agree, but agreed to compromise to reach a consensus, this time we cannot accept this deal."

According to Government sources, if the new rules are implemented as proposed, Malta could lose more than half its shipping registry.

The new proposals are aimed at setting minimum punishments for skippers and shipping companies responsible for oil slicks.

During the Council, Dr Borg emphasised that Malta, Greece and Cyprus are objecting primarily to Article 47 of the new rules, which states that when there is negligent pollution in EU territorial waters, EU ship-crews will be liable to jail sentences, when non-EU-flagged ships will be exempted from criminal sanctions and liable only to fines.

Dr Borg told The Sunday Times that this means that the three countries in the EU with the largest shipping registers - Malta, Cyprus and Greece - will bear the consequences of the new rules to the great detriment of their economy.

Referring to member states which stated during the meeting that the EU needed to send a clear political message with the new rules, Dr Borg said: "This is very easy when others will be paying the price... the price in this case, which after all does not solve the problems caused to the environment by pollution, will be paid by Malta, Cyprus and Greece, whose economy depends so much on the shipping industry."

The new rules were discussed for the first time during the Council meeting in October. However the discussion was postponed to Friday following the rejection by Malta, Cyprus and Greece. On Friday no vote was taken as it was clear that the three Mediterranean countries were still objecting.

Jonathan Faull, director-general for Justice and Home Affairs at the European Commission, told The Sunday Times after the session that the Commission will be trying to help Malta, Cyprus and Greece find a solution.

Nonetheless, he admitted that this "is not an easy matter... I hope that during the next Council, due in December, we will find a solution. If not, the issue could be taken to the Prime Ministers during the EU Summit." Mr Faull called on EU Justice Ministers to try to solve the issue at their level as it is quite complicated and "normally heads of government do not discuss technical matters".

The Dutch Presidency tried to brush off the issue at a press conference following the council meeting. Dutch Justice Minister Jan Donner said that while "no compromise was reached over the issue", the next Justice Ministers' meeting should be able to discuss it again. However, he also indicated the possibility of postponing the decision into Luxembourg's Presidency, which begins on January 1.

The opposition of Malta, Cyprus and Greece over the issue has been criticised harshly by environmental groups, both in Malta, by Alternattiva Demokratika and internationally, particularly by Greenpeace.

Dr Borg, hitting back at this criticism, said that Malta's stand has nothing to do with the environment. He said that "if Malta was opposing all the proposed rules, the criticism would have made sense, but we are not against imposing severe penalties in serious cases".

Dr Borg said that the three countries are opposing only the provisions that while not helping the environmental cause are negatively affecting the European shipping registers and giving advantages to their competitors. The new proposed rules mean that countries like Panama and Liberia can do the same thing, at the same place, and in the same time, but not be penalised criminally. If these rules come into force, "whoever has some business sense will just transfer his ships from the Maltese register to the other countries which do not have the same rules!"

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Competitiveness and Communications, which is responsible for Malta's shipping register, said that with the new liabilities that shipping companies and ship captains can face if there is a disaster makes it impossible or at best prohibitively expensive for ship owners to acquire the insurance cover needed.

This would render them even less competitive when compared with the ships registered under flags such as those of the Bahamas, Panama and Liberia, or possibly of dependencies of other member states such as the Dutch Antilles and Aruba.

If the EU approves regulations that undermine the competitiveness of Maltese, Greeks and Cypriots, it would mean that it would potentially lose a substantial percentage of shipping registered under the flags of all its member states. In fact after the accession of Malta and Cyprus, the Union now has the largest shipping fleet in the world.

If the ship registers of Malta, Cyprus and Greece are driven to other flag states not bound by regulations that go beyond internationally recognised regulations, the protection of the world environment will not be enhanced at all. To oblige shipping organisation to implement regulations that will go further to protect the environment, these regulations have to be applicable universally so that potential polluters and sub-standard shipping will have nowhere to hide.