Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-21-Speech-2-252"
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"en.20031021.7.2-252"2
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"Mr President, I would like to join my colleagues in thanking Mr Rothley very much, not just for this report but for the sustained campaign that he has run over many years, as the Commissioner indicated, to improve the whole insurance climate for Europe's motorists. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that, and it reflects well on Parliament too.
Since I joined the Parliament in 1999, I have had the pleasure of working with Mr Rothley on this subject in which I have taken a particular interest. I contributed to the 2001 report and am delighted to say that a number of the ideas that flowed from that are now incorporated in this very welcome Fifth proposal from the Commission.
Mr Rothley and others have talked particularly about issues of improving the ability of motorists to claim damages for accidents outside their own country. I want to focus on a few other detailed points. Many of us have dealt with constituency cases concerning the difficulties of people temporarily moving to other countries – particularly students or people taking up work or even citizens wishing to make long-term stays. They have difficulty in getting their insurance extended for that temporary stay and having insurance extended for up to 12 months. I think this is a very important benefit.
Secondly, we are concerned in our committee about the internal market and simplifying the regime which allows citizens to go and buy a car from another country and have their existing insurance extended for 30 days while they bring that car home and have it re-registered.
This is just an important simplification. It underlines the fact that in the internal market, citizens expect to be able to have these rights delivered across borders without inconvenience – that is really what this proposal is all about.
In a similar vein, making insurance purchase easier and more competitive, by enabling citizens to get their insurance claim records delivered to them wherever they have had insurance previously, so that they can use their past clean record to gain important price and coverage benefits for their insurance is an important benefit.
In conclusion, Mr Karas has talked about some of the improvements we have made, and I agree with him about some of the areas into which I think we have intruded too far into Member States' prerogatives. One area which has been drawn to my attention in the last few days is the right for claims to lapse after four years. In my own country, the United Kingdom, that cuts across national provisions. There are strong arguments for having a look at this again and this is something I will talk to the rapporteur about. We need to discuss whether we should support that provision in the final report or ask the Commission and Council to look at this before it finally comes back.
Overall this is an excellent piece of work. It has our full support, and I would like to thank both the Commission and the rapporteur for the work they have done in moving this important benefit forward for all of Europe's citizens."@en1
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