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The news was swift, not attributed to a source and pasted over the front page of an English daily in Malta. Yet the news that the Maltese Maritime Authority was not found to be criminally responsible for the Erika oil disaster was to be short-lived. Civil proceedings are expected to be concluded by the end of December in French courts, MaltaToday has discovered. Many French civic groups, which include the families of small entrepreneurs have asked the courts to decide whether the Maltese authorities are culpable for the oil disaster that left hundreds of French families without an income.
They are claiming compensation. Ironically next week the 26 December marks the date when oil from the tanker Erika started to seep out and destroy the Breton coast.
Though Brittany is hundreds of miles away from Malta, emotions run high in this wind swept part of France. The appointment of former Maltese foreign minister Joe Borg as European Union commissioner was taken as a blatant and rude provocation by at least one environmental group based in the idyllic port city of Morlaix.
It does not stop here, the Socialist Euro parliamentarian Bernard Poignant a former mayor of Quimper, one of the largest cities in South west Brittany has been at the forefront of a campaign to raise awareness about the Erika disaster – calling for compensation for the victims.
Poignant, a Breton, represents a constituency of over 3 million - at least six times the Maltese population - in an area at least 200 times the size of Malta and Gozo.
Breton fishermen, hoteliers, restaurateurs, environmentalists and locals are still very angry about the Erika oil disaster. The effects of oil pollution are still being felt to this day with loss of income and decimation of wildlife considered to be the main concern.
The affected coast was home to thousands of wild seabirds, miles of golden sandy beaches and the richest oyster farms in Western Europe.
The Erika, a Maltese-registered oil tanker was a single hulled and ageing vessel, broke in half off the Breton coast losing tonnes of oil which left the rich crustacean beds completely devastated in this otherwise popular tourist destination.
Though the Maltese Maritime Authority denies any responsibility for the accident, it later became clear that the Maltese authorities did little in the way of monitoring when it came to their own flagships, depending mostly on third parties to verify that standards were adhered to and knowing all too well that the Maltese flag is no more than a flag of convenience.
The decision to appoint Joe Borg as EU Commissioner responsible for fisheries and maritime affairs has added fuel to the streak of anger about Erika with the French media and lobby groups.
The Erika disaster has led to widespread protests in Brittany with musicians and intellectuals joining forces to write songs, poems and diatribes against the ‘people’ behind the Erika. Cartoons, a national literary delicacy has invented characters associated with the Erika disaster.
If the right to proceed with civil actions are given the green light by the French courts, there is little doubt that the next headlines on the Erika saga will have a rather different twist and are likely to cause some head scratching at the accident prone Maltese Maritime Authority.
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