Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-09-Speech-2-358"
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"en.20040309.13.2-358"2
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".
Mr President, air pollution continues to be a serious problem in Europe. An oral question tabled for this part-session, which I replied to before the dinner break, illustrates the point by quoting from the World Health Organization study on the number of cases of premature deaths or serious illness caused by air pollution.
Even though we have made considerable progress in reducing concentrations of some pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide or lead, other pollutants continue to pose a threat. That is why the Commission is continuing to pursue a vigorous policy against air pollution. We have under way a large programme called Clean Air for Europe to prepare for the thematic strategy on air pollution due to be adopted next year. This programme focuses especially on some of the most widespread problems, such as particulate matter and ground-level ozone.
We are also looking at other types of pollution, which also have important consequences for human health. Among these are the pollutants which are the subject of the proposed directive being discussed today, the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium and nickel, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and mercury. They are, in fact, the last in the list of pollutants mentioned in the Air Quality Framework Directive of 1996 as requiring specific action. Three daughter directives have been adopted so far, pursuant to that directive, covering all the other pollutants on the list. The directive being discussed today thus forms the last in a series of legislation provided for under the framework directive.
An important aspect of the proposed directive concerns monitoring. Currently, we do not have enough information on how widespread these pollutants are and we urgently need more data. For the heavy metals we have decided not to propose any limits or target value, since the main problems occur in the immediate vicinity of certain industrial installations, and levels that can be easily achieved elsewhere would not be achievable in these areas without taking disproportionate measures, even leading to shutting down the installations.
But that does not mean that nothing can, or will, be done to reduce the levels of pollution. These installations are covered by the IPPC Directive and best available techniques will therefore have to be applied to reduce emissions by 2007. By ensuring adequate monitoring of concentrations near these sources and making results available to the public, this directive will help to ensure that the operators of these installations take the necessary measures to keep emissions as low as possible.
For polyaromatic hydrocarbons the problem is not limited to such a small number of sources, so we have proposed a target value obliging Member States to take all necessary measures to reach the required level, as long as they do not entail excessive costs.
I am aware that there is a wish to go further than we have in setting binding limit values for some of these pollutants and I fully sympathise with the desire to protect human health that this reflects. At the same time, it seems highly doubtful that there would be any real advantage in setting binding limit values that will simply be unachievable and would therefore need to be the subject of derogations or exemptions in the very places where the main problem occurs.
From that point of view I welcome the decision to postpone the vote on this subject to allow for alternative possibilities to be explored. In any case, by ensuring a high level of monitoring in the worst affected areas and setting a target value for polyaromatic hydrocarbons where the sources are more widespread, the directive as proposed will make an important contribution to reducing this type of pollution, raising public awareness and making Europe's air safer to breathe."@en1
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