Dealing responsibly with munitions in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea

7.5.2021

Priority question for written answer  P-002464/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
David McAllister (PPE)

Official estimates put the amount of munitions from the world wars in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea at 1.6 million tonnes, of which 1.3 million tonnes are in the North Sea alone. Apart from conventional munitions, there are assumed to be at least 300 000 tonnes of chemical weapons, no less than 250 000 tonnes of which are in the North Sea. Advancing corrosion means that these dangerous relics of war pose an increasing and considerable danger to the marine ecosystem and thus to humans. They also pose a danger to the maritime economy – to shipping, fishing and the offshore infrastructure – and also for tourism along the coast.

• 1.How will the Commission ensure the long-term awareness in countries bordering the North Sea and the Baltic Sea of the need to deal safely with old munitions?
• 2.How will the Commission ensure that the ongoing research, together with the findings and results, on the topic of munitions in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea is conducted multinationally and that data records are standardised?
• 3.What is the Commission’s opinion of setting up a permanent voluntary fund among countries bordering these seas which could finance a group of experts, monitoring and tendering for the detection and environmentally-friendly recovery of old munitions in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea?