"Paldiski Harbour, Estonia
Estonia, 28 September 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My visit here was unfortunately precipitated by a series of tragic events,
most notably on the Ivory Coast where an illegal shipment of European toxic
waste caused health and environmental havoc among the population.

Such highly toxic waste should have never left the European Union. European
and international laws were broken. There is no excuse for it. What happened
was not only unethical in the most profound sense of the word, but it was
criminal.

What is more, I fear that the Probo Koala incident is only the tip of the
iceberg.

And so I decided to come here;

You can call it a fact finding mission, but is more than that.

First and foremost, I want give my full support to the efforts of the
Estonian authorities in their quest to prosecute the criminals who
perpetrated this crime.

Secondly, I want to raise awareness about the practices of illegal shipping
of toxic waste. European governments need to be more aware of what is
happening in their harbours and on their ships. And what needs to be done to
prevent another such disaster.

And when I return to Brussels, I will seek ways and means to reinforce the
existing waste shipment regulation and its implementation by the Member
States. I also plan to put forward a proposal to criminalise certain
environmentally damaging practices such as the one perpetrated.

I am looking forward to discussing these issues at the next environmental
council and hope for support of my initiatives also from the European
Council.

Finally, let me extend my thanks to Greenpeace which took a decisive step by
preventing the departure of the Probo Koala."

- EU Commissioner for the Environment, Stavros Dimas