Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-03-10-Speech-1-129"
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"en.20030310.6.1-129"2
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".
Mr President, I would firstly like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Ayuso, for the great rigour and care with which she has produced this report. I would also like to thank the members of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy for the serious way they have analysed this report. Furthermore, I would like to thank this Parliament for the support it has been giving to this issue from the outset.
The Commission is firmly convinced that any other criterion used by the States to justify different objectives must be equivalent to the those laid down in the directive.
Finally, I will mention Amendment No 2. Recital 13 stresses the importance of the standardisation of fuels and proposes that the Commission and the standardisation bodies supervise and implement these standards in order to guarantee that biofuels gain the confidence of consumers and manufacturers. Within this context, Amendment No 2 proposes stressing, in particular, volatility parameters. However, there are various parameters in relation to rules for fuels and in this regard we believe that perhaps the amendment should say ‘including volatility parameters’. We can therefore accept this amendment in principle but with this modification.
I would like once again to thank the rapporteur, all the members of the Committee and Parliament for your support and naturally I can assure you once again that, as you have requested, the Commission will ensure strict compliance with the provisions agreed for this Directive and I hope that the Council will shortly approve the taxation elements, which are essential if it is to have real content.
With the adoption of this directive we will have specific legislation for combating greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector as well.
Furthermore, the directive provides benefits from the point of view of the security of energy supply and it may eventually lead to the creation of employment in rural areas.
An agreement on this proposal, without going to conciliation, would eliminate any possible final reservations of the members of the Council with regard to the Commission’s proposals on tax relief for biofuels. As you will know, this proposal now forms part of the framework directive on taxation in energy and I believe there has recently been really encouraging progress and we hope that the Council will soon adopt it and it will enter into force.
The Commission can accept all the amendments proposed, although I would like to comment on Amendment No 2 a little later.
Firstly, I will deal with Amendment No 8, which is the key amendment. Throughout this entire process the Commission has promoted the inclusion of binding objectives. We believe that this would send a very clear message to the industry with regard to the seriousness of our proposal on biofuels.
I recognise, however, that the procedure so carefully drawn up in the Council’s Common Position, with the amendments proposed by the rapporteur, provide a solid basis for action and may provide a system for reaching an agreement between the Council and Parliament.
For the first time, the States will have to establish objectives for biofuels. These objectives will have to be based on the provisions of the directive; that is, 2% in 2005 and 5.75% in 2010, which represents an increase in the overall use of fuels in each of the countries. This clearly represents a very significant but realistic increase – as the rapporteur said earlier. The States which for any reason want to set lesser objectives, will have to justify it and there are a series of criteria on which that justification will have to be based.
It should be pointed out that the Commission, like Parliament, would have preferred the list of criteria to have been restricted to the points established in Amendment No 8. However, we accept that equally valid reasons may still arise for the establishment of lesser objectives. And we recognise that for the majority of States the use of biofuels in transport will be a new area of activity; we cannot therefore make a final judgment
on the obstacles which may arise."@en1
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