Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-12-Speech-1-063"
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"en.20030512.6.1-063"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have already had the opportunity – at first reading – to express my views on this important subject and I am therefore pleased to be able to speak again this evening.
I would like to start by personally thanking my friend and colleague, Mrs McNally, for the high quality of her report and for the way she has conducted negotiations with the Council. I have known her for a long time and I would like to pay tribute to her for her hard work, although I sometimes, or often, rather, disagree with the liberal lines taken by some of her friends.
Also on a personal note, I would like to tell Mrs de Palacio that, although she has never replied to my question on what I consider to be a contradiction between free competition seeking to force prices down and the undeniable need to save energy, I appreciate her work as Commissioner responsible for energy, her indisputable abilities and her willingness to listen.
To turn to the content now, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, I would point out that the ‘Intelligent Energy for Europe’ programme, covering the period 2003 to 2006, replaces a programme which expired on 31 December 2002. That explains the urgent need for us to come to an agreement and find the best possible compromise. It is no surprise that the most heated debates were on the question of the budget. I want once again to lament the fact that, all too often at European level, in very many fields, we are unable to provide ourselves with funding which is commensurate to our goals. I have said it time and time again in this House and elsewhere. In this case, it is all the more regrettable in that a mid-term assessment of the current programme has revealed that the current specific programmes have suffered from a serious lack of resources. In the end, after a number of tripartite meetings, the Council and Parliament succeeded in achieving a compromise of the sum of EUR 200 million, although the Council had been holding out for a sum of EUR 190 million. It is too little, even though it is better than nothing. As has been said, the sum will be divided between four specific programmes: energy efficiency, the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy aspects of transport, and the promotion of renewable energies and energy efficiency in the developing countries. I endorse these headings and I stress the need for action in these areas.
Again with regard to the content, the Council has accepted most of Parliament’s amendments: the inclusion of the candidate countries, the dissemination of the programmes and access thereto and the setting of transparent criteria for selecting participants. We welcome this. However, the Council has not accepted the creation of a European Intelligent Energy Agency. I for my part, like the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, regret this. I think it would have helped us. Nor has the Council accepted the establishment of a task force within the Commission to coordinate the different areas, but Mrs de Palacio has given us a certain amount of reassurance on that point.
I will end by stressing once again that energy is not just another commodity. It involves heavy, ongoing investment. It is in many respects a public service which must be protected zealously in the interest of all citizens in all senses of the word. In the future, we must save, diversify, increase security of supply and assess costs and benefits, and not just short-term costs and benefits. We must look far into the future. Demand will grow and fossil energies will decline. Public opinion is opposed to fission and so we must develop renewable energies and save energy. Lastly, and this is my last point, Mr President, we must implement what I personally consider to be the viable energy of the future, fusion, and thus launch very quickly indeed the ITER programme, very quickly indeed, Mr President."@en1
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