Step by step: progress towards European industrial disaster insurance

On June 8, the European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee adopted a report on the environmental responsibility directive. Thanks to the amendment of Christian Democrat (Fidesz-KDNP) MEP György Hölvényi, the document calls upon the European Commission to establish an EU industrial disaster insurance system.

The motion was initiated by Hungarian President János Áder while he was still an MEP and is based on the lessons of Kolontár and Nagybánya. According to György Hölvényi, these tragedies served as warnings of the EU’s inability to enforce the “polluter pays” principle in cases of large-scale industrial catastrophes.

The EU’s industrial disaster insurance system would be financed only by the payments of potential polluters, i.e. industrial facilities that use or produce hazardous material. It’s primary goal is to provide fast and effective financial assistance to effected Member States in managing the consequences of catastrophes.

The proposal has had a lengthy journey since its conception in 2010. With the ultimate support of the European Commission and due to the assiduous work of the EPP’s Fidesz-KDNP delegation and the Hungarian government, the initiative became the subject of a European Commission feasibility study.

The Christian Democrat representative believes that now the proposal has hope of new momentum. Recently, the European Commission submitted two reports on environmental responsibility and the execution of mining waste directives, both of which underpin the need for the industrial disaster insurance system. Hölvényi hopes that the recent report will open new avenues for Áder’s motion in the slow-rolling EU machinery.