Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-02-Speech-1-124"
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"en.20001002.9.1-124"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to start by offering my thanks to bus manufacturers, operators and drivers. When it comes to road safety and environmental sustainability, they are first-rate. Two and a half years ago the European Commission published a report on the use of 15-metre buses and coaches, in which it referred not only to distortions in competition between transport companies in various EU Member States, but also, I am pleased to say, offered prospects of greater safety and improved comfort. Today, we finally have before us a directive to this effect, one that I have been calling for on an almost monthly basis since then.
Particularly in view of the present heightening of distortions in competition because of unilateral decisions by many Member States on energy pricing, as a result of which Europe has lost credibility in the eyes of a large section of the public, we urgently need to point the way here. Let us give some positive signals: first by harmonising permissible maximum lengths for rigid buses and rigid bus-trailer combinations, secondly, by clarifying the situation as regards removable attachments such as luggage trailers and skiboxes, and thirdly, by bringing the cornering test in line with scientific and technical progress and also with the current version of the ECE Regulation, which has been tried and tested since 1996.
Furthermore, it is totally in the spirit of subsidiarity that Member States are to be granted a long transitional period, up to 2015 to be precise, during which the use within national territory of buses which are currently permitted but do not yet comply with the new requirements of the directive will be allowed. And of course local and regional authorities remain at liberty to impose restrictions on 15-metre buses in places where there are traffic management problems, such as narrow streets in historical town centres. However, national protectionist measures going beyond this are not acceptable.
I would like to thank the rapporteur and to congratulate him, and I ask you to vote for Amendments Nos 1, 2, 3 and 6."@en1
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