PRESTIGE BILL

Edition: 322
Date: 12-05-03

The ‘Prestige’ disaster cost the Spanish authorities over 30 million euros in the five months after the vessel sank and fuel oil began to leak out of her hull, and the costs are still continuing. According to the Vice-President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy, the central government had to pay 171 million euros towards the cost of cleaning up the giant oil slicks which devastated beaches, and the rest was met by the autonomous communities which were affected by the disaster, particularly Galicia, whose beaches suffered most, and whose regional government have had to pay 105 million euros so far.