Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-25-Speech-4-150"
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"en.20011025.3.4-150"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking you for your contributions to this debate; they were all very constructive and sought to find a solution to this very grave problem. On the quite specific question of signing the Alpine Convention, the Commission will endeavour to get the Council to sign during the course of the Belgian Presidency.
On the other hand, the primary concern is naturally for safety. I do not think it will work if we now quite simply push all safety matters up to the European level. Everyone must see to it in the areas for which he or she is responsible. The national authorities must do that just as much as we have to fulfil our own responsibilities, but we cannot take over the responsibilities of the national authorities.
So the fact is that the question of reopening and the question of safety standards must be settled primarily by the French and Italian authorities. There is a procedure for that. That procedure has been completed and we have the result. If those authorities come to the conclusion that reopening is justified, then that is what must happen. On the other hand, we must also be clear at European level that we can only act within the framework of our own competencies. The fact is, too, that the very White Paper that my colleague Mrs de Palacio has presented, is intended first of all to clarify those competencies and secondly also to see that traffic becomes even safer and also that the environmental effects of traffic are kept in check so that there is no further damage to the particularly sensitive areas of the European Union.
Regarding the question of the Euro-toll disc regulation, as I said, we shall be submitting a draft for it in 2002. In this connection we shall also be considering whether it is necessary to create some kind of transitional arrangement for the transit agreement with the Republic of Austria. Essentially, this depends on how quickly our Member States and the European Parliament can agree on the contents of the White Paper. It will not be possible to actually implement these things until we are in a position to create a new, improved infrastructure costs directive and adopt the other parts of the White Paper.
We therefore have the answer to the question. The Commission has no way – no legal way in particular – of preventing the opening of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. But I am very much in favour of an appropriately intensive debate on the new White Paper so that definite decisions can be taken as soon as possible."@en1
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