Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-293"
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"en.20050927.22.2-293"2
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".
Mr President, I think that, when it comes to the transport sector, this Parliament has a good tradition of boosting rail transport and thus the rail sector. The Committee has borne this in mind, and it is likely, therefore, that we shall join together in plenary tomorrow to adopt, by a large majority, all the reports relating to the rail sector. I am obliged to all the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs, therefore, for their work, which evidently did produce a consensus in the end.
No sooner had I had a discussion in my group than the railway package reappeared, in very abridged form, as the Jarzembowski report. I had to take issue with that, because there is of course a bit more to this railway package. In my opinion, the Savary report is very important. We need to have well-trained train drivers for cross-border transport in Europe, so that freight is transported well and safely by train drivers with well-qualified staff on board, who should also have proper social security cover. For this reason, I believe that the Savary report regarding freight transport is an important step forward.
I think that the Sterckx report is also important, in that passengers’ rights, too, are being properly regulated in Europe at last, and in that the customers – the passengers – are to be entitled to reasonable compensation, as is the case with other modes of transport, in the event of delays for which the operator is to blame.
With regard to the Zīle report, I must say that the Commission sometimes goes too far. As Mr Zīle has pointed out, he has done a very good job; yet the majority of the Committee – myself included – had reservations. On the subject of the quality requirements for freight transport, I must say that we have to start depending on the market before the market is capable of regulating anything.
What is critical, in my view, is that we boost the rail sector. It was one of the Commissioner’s predecessors, Commissioner Kinnock, who coined the slogan about the revitalisation of Europe’s railways. Mr Kinnock (‘Old’ Labour rather than ‘New Labour’) was right with his ‘roadmap’, because our problem is that the volume of both freight and passenger transport by rail has been decreasing progressively since the 1970s.
As the energy situation is now extremely critical, and we know that the transport sector is the greatest energy consumer of all, we have to take the opportunity to encourage a shift away from the roads and, increasingly, from flying – we keep coming back to the kerosene tax – in favour of the railways. Therefore, the railways must have a cross-border structure for both freight and passenger transport. This must not fall at the hurdle of former public officials with – sometimes sacrosanct – government property; instead, the way must be cleared for a rational new policy.
This is our first reading. We all know that, sooner or later, a common position will be forthcoming, and there will be a second reading. We shall all meet again then. That being the case, we do not need to get so worked up. I do think, however, that we shall, together, be adopting a sensible measure tomorrow."@en1
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