Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-306"
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"en.20030702.10.3-306"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, we are dealing today with the Marco Polo programme, aimed at reducing traffic congestion and contributing to a more effective and sustainable transport system. We are going to vote in favour of the text proposed by the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, but we cannot say that we are completely satisfied with it.
Firstly, because the economic contribution we requested has been reduced by the Council of Ministers from EUR 115 million to EUR 75 million, a reduction which we believe is going to prevent us from achieving the objective of transferring the expected total annual increase in international goods transport by road to other alternative modes of transport, and this increase is expected to be in the order of 50% up until 2010. To this end, and according to the data in the White Paper on transport, the railways and ships should absorb an extra 39% in terms of tonnes of goods per kilometre than it currently does, which when added to its own trend of increase, which is now 29%, would mean a 68% total increase in its capacity for traffic, which I do not believe can be financed with the reduced budget.
If, as the Commission points out, with one euro of subsidy 500 tonnes could be transferred, with the EUR 75 million allowed by the Council, 37 500 tonnes per kilometre could be transferred, rather than the 52 250 million tonnes per year by which road transport is expected to increase. In other words, the objectives of the Marco Polo programme could not be achieved.
Neither are we pleased about the fact that the possibility of funding actions for the reduction and prevention of goods transport by road, without necessarily implying transfer to other modes, has not been included. We believe it is possible to act during the stages prior to the loading of lorries, for example, by promoting a more compact form of packaging of goods so that they take up less space and require fewer lorries.
And finally, although this may be the subject of a different proposal, we believe that it is also necessary to consider reflecting on the current model of production and distribution of goods. If we truly incorporate, without a single exception, all the external costs of transport, perhaps we will reach the conclusion that we should reconsider our theory of economy of scale in production and of the benefits of its concentration."@en1
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