Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-02-Speech-1-043"
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"en.20010702.5.1-043"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the rapporteur, Mr Rothley, has unfortunately been detained today at an important meeting in Luxembourg and has asked me to stand in for him today and, in fact, to speak on his behalf, which is something I am happy to do.
With the fifth draft directive on motor vehicles, we want further to improve the protection of accident victims and, at the same time, take account of the requirements of the internal market. What are we proposing?
Firstly, any loss arising out of a traffic accident in the European Union – whether those involved are from the same or from different countries – ought, in future, to be settled within a reasonable period. Otherwise, there should be the threat of financial sanctions.
Secondly, the sum insured ought, in future, to amount to at least EUR 2 million, irrespective of the number of victims and the nature of the losses. I have doubts, however, as to whether this amount will be sufficient. In December 1998, a British judge decided the case of a Dutch student who had broken his neck in an accident and since been paralysed from neck to toe. The court awarded the accident victim compensation of approximately GBP 9 million, some GBP 8 million of which related to purely financial loss.
Thirdly, there are still doubts as to who is obliged to assume liability for an accident caused by a vehicle without a number plate or with a false or stolen number plate. In such cases, we need clear regulations in favour of the accident victim. In future, compensation should be paid from the guarantee fund of the country in which the accident occurred. Take, for example, the case of a Dutch hit-and-run driver who causes an accident in Italy with a vehicle stolen in Poland that has false German number plates. Who is liable? In future, it should be the Italian guarantee fund alone, which would obviously try to obtain redress.
Fourthly, the period for which a policyholder working temporarily in another Member State is protected ought, in future, to be increased to twelve months. During this period, he ought neither to have to register a new address for his vehicle nor to have to effect a new insurance policy. Those are only some of the proposals. They are really there for the purpose of tying up loose ends. At a later stage, we shall deal with the real problems of the future, i.e. reform of the compensation provided for non-material losses in the European Union. We discussed this last year in Trier at the Academy of European Law: in other words, the protection of pedestrians and cyclists as vulnerable road users. That was the theme in Trier this year at the Second European Road Traffic Law Conference: in other words, the accident victim’s right to claim directly against his own insurer.
I consider that to be a modern concept. The Commission should therefore set to work."@en1
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