Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-12-Speech-1-096"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010212.6.1-096"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, I would firstly like to say that the Commission is pleased to see that the European Parliament has given priority to this report, to this initiative. Specifically, the common position adopted by the Council on 10 November 2000 was received by the European Parliament at the end of November and the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism was able to debate a first draft report on 4 December 2000.
With regard to the economic impact of interoperability, on the question of whether or not it makes sense to guarantee a single system in the future, an issue which in a sense Mr Vatanen also raised, I must say that, before proposing any decision on harmonised technical requirements, we must carry out a cost-benefit analysis which will justify the economic effort which will be required. Therefore, as has been pointed out, what we are proposing is a two-stage process of harmonisation. Some measures will be implemented rapidly, as the rapporteur, Mr Savary, has pointed out. These will include administrative-type measures such as driving licences for train drivers, so that they may travel beyond national borders, a national licence, which will be a European licence, issues such as the documentation of the goods and signalling, which should be quicker to implement. There are others, however, which are much more complicated to implement, such as, for example, harmonising the size of tunnels so that they may all have the same standard measurements. That will take somewhat longer.
I would like to assure Mr Swoboda, as I have said repeatedly, that before the end of the year we hope to propose the pending measures, such as the directive on safety in rail transport, the issue of the opening up of goods transport to competition and the issue of passenger transport. Of course, the whole issue of the enlargement of the European Union is a key factor for the rail sector, because rail transport is a key element in the development and the balanced growth of the new countries.
Thank you very much, Mr President, and thank you very much Mr Savary and the whole of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism.
I would also like to express my satisfaction and gratitude to the rapporteur, Mr Savary, and to the whole committee, but especially Mr Savary. Thanks to his capacity for negotiation and for work on the whole of this issue, which is furthermore very complex, we have been able to make rapid progress. In the end, the whole of the railways package, which we approved in the course of 2000 and this year, the beginning of 2001, is decidedly French in nature, due to the important targets which have been adopted, no doubt with some Finnish touches, since the Finnish Presidency also played an important role.
Ladies and gentlemen, this directive is an essential provision of a technical nature, which also has great political importance, because it is the key element for the implementation of what we indicated when we approved the railways package, that is, to open up the transport of international goods to competition. What we are doing through this latest interoperability measure is building a European railway. This goes much further than opening up a sector or modifying some specific technical requirements. This is a truly important moment in the short history of European integration. It is the construction of a European railway.
In this respect, we are also providing something very important for the European technology sector: the European railways industry, which includes some of the world’s most technologically advanced industries, is being given the possibility of operating within a massive internal market of great dimensions which will lead to a lowering of costs and greater profits, which will therefore optimise all production and greater competitiveness at international and world level, beyond our European borders.
As you know, the European Parliament has just reached an agreement with the Council in relation to the whole of this proposed package and the year 2008 has been set as the final date for the complete opening up of the railway goods network. Both Mr Swoboda and Mr Jarzembowski, who were rapporteurs for this package, played a decisive role. I believe that these measures will clearly not be effective unless, at the same time, we enable Mr Savary’s suggestions to be implemented, that is to say, that we go ahead with the removal of technical incompatibility. And that is exactly what this measure does.
I must say that some of the major users and some operators who intend to use and benefit from the possibilities offered by this trans-European rail network have recently indicated to the services of the Commission a large number of technical or operative obstacles which hinder the organisation of international goods services. It is in this context that this directive acquires even more importance and the interoperability of the conventional trans-European rail system will enable us to overcome some of these obstacles which we are facing by trying still to reserve certain national markets.
In this respect, I would like to congratulate you all once again on the achievement of having this directive approved on second reading. Its adoption will guarantee a European dimension, create a competitive market for interoperable rail products. It will lead to the development of significant economies of scale which will benefit companies and the removal of technical barriers caused by the excessive fragmentation of the sector, which are often the result of collusion between monopolistic operators and their national suppliers within a captive market.
The Commission will devote itself heart and soul to implementing this directive, never losing sight of the fact that its success depends on the ability of all the rail agents involved – managers of infrastructures, rail companies and related industries – to employ their experience creatively and find effective and economic technical solutions, preventing the overlapping of solutions, which is unfortunately taking place in some cases.
Mr Bouwman asked me some questions and I would like to reply to them. Specifically, before the adoption of the technical requirements on interoperability, consultations will be held to ascertain the opinions of the various users and parties involved, including infrastructure managers, operators, rail companies etc. and also the transport and user organisations and others. This is one of the issues that I wanted to highlight."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples