Today,
28 September, the European Commission’s representative for the
environment, Stavros Dimas, visited the Port of Paldiski with
Estonian Minister of the Environment Villu Reiljan and was informed
of the details of the interception of the ship Probo Koala. "The interception of the Probo Koala is an indication of excellent international cooperation," said Dimas. "It is the kind of cooperation that helps us to avoid situations where developed nations try to pass off dangerous substances to ports as ordinary shipping waste." The environmental representative stressed that the European Union has effective legislation to deal with the handling of dangerous materials on ships and that ensuring that this takes place depends on successful cooperation. "My mission for the short term is to see that the tenets of the EU as they stand today are also adopted internationally," explained Dimas. According to Dimas the Probo Koala represents a pan-European and potentially international environmental threat for which finding a solution largely now rests with Estonia. The representative for the environment promised to support Estonia in every way possible in this and to provide any help that may be needed from the European Commission. The Minister for the Environment, Villu Reiljan, thanked the European Commission’s representative for the environment for the support that has been given. "The swift arrival of the representative in Estonia is a mark of the importance of this case in both a pan-European and international sense," Reiljan said. He also emphasised the excellent work that had been done between agencies in order to intercept the Probo Koala, expressing particular thanks to the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor’s Office and Minister Rein Lang. The ability of the agencies to react so rapidly was helped to a large extent by the Environmental Research Centre’s fuel laboratory, the Baltic States’ most modern, which was completed recently and co-financed by the Phare programme, and whose analysis results were ready within hours. On 27 September the Ministry of the Environment approached the Ministry of Justice regarding interception of the Probo Koala, as samples taken from the washing water of the fuel tanks of the ship, anchored in the Port of Paldiski, indicated the presence of the same substances that are likely to have caused the recent poisoning in Côte d´Ivoire. The Prosecutor’s Office launched criminal proceedings on 27 September. Late last night, 27 September, the Minister of the Environment Villu Reiljan met with Greenpeace representative Jacob Hartmann to discuss issues related to the Probo Koala and to thank the environmental activists. Hartmann expressed his pleasure at being invited to meet the Minister and praised Estonia for its rapid reaction. Greenpeace representatives also attended the meeting with the European Commission’s representative for the environment, where they likewise stressed the international significance of the interception of the ship. The Ministry of the Environment received a letter from Carl Schlyter, a member of the European Parliament and of the Swedish Green Party, who also praised Estonia for the action it had undertaken in intercepting the vessel and underscored the global importance of the prevention of environmental threats. Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has described the state’s handling of matters associated with the tanker as adequate.
For further information please contact: Manuela Pihlap Press officer, Ministry of the Environment 562 50398 Public Relations Department, Ministry of the Environment 626 2908, 626 2811, 626 2917 625 0398, 514 8627, 521 2602
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