President Aznar admits now he made some mistakes and Justice Minister José María Michavila has announced legal proceedings against the owners, operators and captain of the sunken oil tanker. But the European Union continues to make mistakes rejecting strict regulations that would ensure disasters like these never happen again.

Last week E.U. transport, telecommunications and energy ministers meeting in Brussels failed to agree on strong measures to protect the world's oceans from the threat of hazardous and toxic shipments in substandard vessels.

They agreed to ban single hulled vessels transporting heavy fuel from its ports, but it is up to each E.U. member state to decide when the ban takes effect. And the ban does not apply to single hull vessels transporting all hazardous cargo, and does not exclude the vessels from ecologically sensitive marine areas.

But the E.U. Heads of State have the power to stop any other disaster from occurring. They must radically improve what is currently on the table or they will be directly responsible for the future disasters that are sure to come.

Last week, heads of E.U. states met in Copenhagen to discuss expansion of the union. Some heads of state are determined not to let the issue of the Prestige die. And while expansion will happen over several years and regulations will take time to implement but the Prestige will continue to leak and the affects of more oil spills could affect all of Europe for years to come. It is time for the E.U. to lead the way setting an example of strict regulations that will protect the marine environment.

Greenpeace

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