Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-21-Speech-2-026"
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"en.20031021.2.2-026"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the treatment of these reports as a single unit named ‘rail package’, whereby various part-aspects of the railways issue are covered – for example safety on the Community’s railways, the development of high-speed lines, the granting of licences to railway undertakings, and the levying of charges and the allocation of railway infrastructure – presents me with the opportunity of drawing Parliament’s attention today, in the course of the discussion on the trans-European rail system, to the continuing blocking of the ‘Iron Rhine’ dossier.
The Iron Rhine is an outstanding example of a European transport line that is useful to an open economy. After all, the Iron Rhine in the Ruhr area of the German hinterland opens up not only the port of Antwerp, but also the ports of Ghent, Zeebrugge and Ostend. The Iron Rhine already exists, and has proved its usefulness in the past, but it fell into disuse some decades ago because the costs of environmental adjustment, such as tunnelling in certain places, became much too high for the line to be made profitable in a short space of time. This, however, is a bogus argument that the Dutch Government hides behind when continually blocking the matter.
Nowadays, however, Flanders feels the need to reactivate this railway line, in view of the growing problems with container traffic in Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany, which is growing at an exponential rate. Germany, and more particularly the
North Rhine-Westphalia, has been supporting Flanders for years in making this economically necessary call.
Unfortunately, however, the Netherlands is conducting a policy of obstruction in this matter, one that is dictated by its own plans to provide the port of Rotterdam with a modern connection to the Ruhr area via the extortionate and environmentally damaging Betuwe Line, from which, however, not a single European country stands to derive any economic benefit.
For years, therefore, the situation has been deadlocked in this way: this benefits no one, and has only resulted in great economic damage to the Flemish ports and to container traffic.
Now that Europe has formally recognised the importance of transnational railway lines, I should like to express my hope, as a Fleming and a
that a breakthrough – one that offers a satisfactory solution for all parties – be sought at European level in the Iron Rhine dossier that is so important to Flanders."@en1
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"Sinjoor"1
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