STATEMENT

3.03.2005

Helsinki, Finland

Speech by Mr. Arturas Daubaras, Chairman of HELCOM at a diplomatic working lunch with the ambassadors of the Contracting States to the Helsinki Convention

Your Excellencies, dear Colleagues,

I would like to start my statement by sincerely thanking you all for finding the time to join this already traditional HELCOM diplomatic lunch. This is the fifth year when the Ambassadors of all the Contracting States to the Helsinki Convention as well as the States in the catchment area meet - not only to share a meal - but also to talk about the most important issues having effect on the international cooperation for the sake of the Baltic Sea marine environment.

Since May 2004, eight out of the nine Baltic Sea Coastal States are members of the European Union. This means, among other things, that decisions now taken in Brussels have, more than before, influence on the state of the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. This is even more so when taking into account the coming European Marine Strategy.

There are two questions I would like to ask today:

Will the European Marine Strategy solve the environmental problems of the Baltic Sea?  And what can we do to achieve maximum positive results of the EU enlargement on the Baltic marine environment?

We in HELCOM are waiting for the coming European Marine Strategy and see its importance in the protection of the marine environment of the European seas - including the Baltic. Nevertheless, we also see the clear need for a regional dimension and I would like to mention a few reasons for that.

First of all the European seas have different environmental conditions and different sensitivity to various human impacts. The Baltic Sea is a large semi-enclosed basin of brackish water with low temperatures, low salinity and a slow water exchange rate which makes it very sensitive and responsive to pollution. Also, some of the pressures on the Baltic Sea are very different from those on the seas in other regions.

Firstly, hazardous substances: Even though the loads of some substances have been reduced considerably over the past 20 - 30 years (in particular discharges of heavy metals) their concentrations in the Baltic Sea are still many times higher than in the Northern Atlantic and no clear decreasing trends have been observed in heavy metal concentrations in marine biota after 1990. The slow water exchange is one of the reasons for such a situation. The issue of dioxins and mercury in the Baltic fish, which has been extensively discussed in the Finnish media during the last weeks, illustrates well the specific situation we face.

Another example is the level of anthropogenic radionuclides in the Baltic Sea which are higher than in other water bodies around the world. Compared to the North East Atlantic and the North Sea the concentrations in the Baltic Sea are 40 and ten times higher, respectively. This is due to atmospheric nuclear testing in the 1960’s and the Chernobyl accident in 1986.  And these are just a few examples – there are many more of this kind.

We should also remember that not all the Coastal States surrounding the Baltic are EU member states. Furthermore, not all the states in the catchments of the European seas, including the Baltic Sea, are members of the EU and we know that most of the pollutants are coming to the sea from land-based sources.

My answer to the first question is: further regional efforts are needed to ensure better ecological health of the Baltic Sea.

Now I would like to turn to the future work of HELCOM in this new political context. Of course HELCOM will continue to address specific Baltic problems and to initiate Baltic regional actions making use of the possibility of HELCOM to act quicker than is typically possible in international organizations. HELCOM will also continue as a forum where all (also non-EU) states bordering the Baltic or located in the catchment area can agree on joint environmental actions.

Today I want to focus on another issue, namely, joint initiatives of the Baltic Sea States within the EU. This issue has been agreed upon by the HELCOM Bremen Ministerial Meeting in 2003 and I am convinced that intensive cooperation between the HELCOM countries within the EU can give very positive results.

A number of HELCOM activities in this field have already started and I would like just to mention a few of them to illustrate this:

A lot of attention during last year was given to co-operation with the newly established European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). HELCOM has developed and submitted a joint proposal for technical specifications of an “EMSA response vessel” to be located by EMSA in the Baltic as additional response capacity.

A similar example is the HELCOM input to the development of an EU Mercury Strategy in order to obtain recognition of the special sensitivity of the Baltic to inputs of hazardous substances.

In this way not only one coordinated position is being provided - instead of eight - but also Russia’s voice is being incorporated.

Several other activities and projects have been started within HELCOM, outcomes of which will be used as inputs to the revision of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Habitat Directive and the EU Hazardous Substances policies, under the EU Water Framework Directive and other associated directives.

A very important decision was taken during the 26th annual meeting of the Helsinki Commission earlier this week. The European Marine Strategy foresees a development of an Action Plan for each of the European seas and I am happy to announce that the Contracting Parties of the Helsinki Commission unanimously agreed that HELCOM will take a lead and play a key role, involving also other stakeholders, in the development of the regional action plan for the Baltic Sea.

Having said all these positive things I would also like to touch upon some issues where I think there still is room for improvement.

It is very useful when HELCOM gives a joint input/position to EU on relevant environmental topics. But we should not forget that it is the representatives of the HELCOM Contracting Parties (in the Council and in the European Parliament) who are taking the decisions in Brussels. Therefore, it is very important that the decisions we take in HELCOM are communicated within your states to enable the representatives of your countries to reflect the agreed positions. If we manage to act in that way the Baltic region representing eight out of 25 EU member states will become a very significant power in environmental questions.

There are also cases when no HELCOM position has been agreed. It is extremely important that also then the Contracting States form their position not only based on their internal problems but also taking into account the issues of importance for the Baltic Sea as a whole. HELCOM is working hard to produce assessment products on the health of the Baltic Sea and the measures needed to cure these to support such decisions/positions.

I would also like to invite your countries to make use of HELCOM when specific information on the Baltic Sea environmental issues is needed.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is not my intention to withhold you from enjoying your meal so I would like to conclude by saying that EU enlargement brought numerous new opportunities not only to new member states but for the whole region and we should do our best to use those opportunities to protect our common sea.

For more information contact:

Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

Helsinki Commission

Katajanokanlaituri 6 B

FI-00160 Helsinki, Finland

Tel. (dir.): + 358 9 6220 2235

Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi