French President Jacques Chirac slammed the "inability of those in charge, politically, nationally and particularly at European level" to prevent it.

The executive European Commission in turn said EU member states should act faster to implement tougher inspection rules without waiting for new European legislation to come into force.

The incident has left European Union authorities with some explaining to do.

After the last major tanker wreck off the EU coast - the 1999 Erika disaster which polluted 400 km (250 miles) of western French coastline - the bloc rushed through a bundle of new maritime regulations and pushed for tougher international rules.

The "Erika package" of rules included a global phase-out of single-hull tankers by 2015, toughened inspection standards at EU ports and the creation of a European maritime safety agency.

But, as most of the measures do not come into force until next July, they were powerless to stop the latest disaster involving another of the ageing single-hull vessels that the European Commission has branded "floating rust buckets".

TOO LATE

Even under the new rules, the Prestige would not have been banned before 2005. But if it was unseaworthy, that should have been discovered by regular inspections that EU ports have to make on 25 percent of the ships that visit them.

EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio wrote to all EU governments this week, urging them not to wait until July 2003 to put the new rules in place.

The Erika package, although too late to stop the oil slick disfiguring the once pristine Galician coast and putting local fishermen out of business, was a "real revolution in maritime transport", de Palacio's spokesman told reporters in Brussels.

The most important measure would ensure ports target older vessels, ones with a history of trouble and those flying suspect flags, instead of spending time inspecting sound, new ships.

While the clean-up operation goes on, the next round of blame will come when parties seek compensation, a process that will be hampered by the complex web of ownership which characterises modern shipping, environmentalists said.

"It's a Liberian tanker, registered in the Bahamas, managed in Greece and chartered by a company in Switzerland. The immediate response by everyone is to throw up their hands and deny responsibility," Greenpeace scientist David Santillo said.

Oil spill compensation is covered by international law, regulated by the London-based International Maritime Organisation, but activists want the European Union to do more.

"We want the EU to review its own measures to ensure, once implemented, they would have prevented this but they should also take the lead at the IMO and make sure global standards are improved. " said Sian Pullen, head of the environmental group WWF's marine programme.

"They could move faster and talk louder."