Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-295"
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"en.20050927.22.2-295"2
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".
Mr President, Mr Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I, too, am very much obliged to the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs. Until now, unrestricted travel through Europe, from Lisbon to Tallinn, from London to Athens, has been possible only by road or air. The rail network, on the other hand, resembles a patchwork quilt with 25 patches, and so the railways are being left behind.
The national networks should be opened up. At the same time, the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance wants to be sure that social and environmental interests are also safeguarded. In addition, we must learn from the mistakes in the United Kingdom and Estonia, for example. Europe cannot be content with the situation on the railways, and the customers certainly cannot. Excessively high prices, frequent delays and poor service tend to be the norm. Moreover, schedules are not passenger-friendly. I shall give three examples. In Germany, the rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG is planning to stop mainline trains from calling at Berlin Zoo station. Passengers are up in arms, with the unanimous support of Parliament and politicians in general. Yet Deutsche Bahn AG is not yielding: politicians have had to capitulate.
In Italy, there are plans to upgrade the railway line between Milan and Verona for high-speed trains but this will involve bypassing Brescia, the second-largest city in Lombardy, whose 200 000 residents will now see their journeys extended by 30 minutes. Here, too, politicians seem to be powerless.
Then the national parliaments, and Parliament in its report on tourism, have decided that passengers should be permitted to take their bicycles on board high-speed trains. It is possible to do this on French TGV trains, but not on the German ICE. Yet Deutsche Bahn AG will not budge; politicians are helpless. That is why the Verts/ALE Group, too, wants the parliaments and the elected politicians to regain their influence over railway policy.
The European driving licence for train drivers will render driver changes at the border between Member States unnecessary. Passengers’ rights are to be strengthened in the passenger-rail services of all EU Member States, with the possibility of legally enforceable claims for compensation in the event of delays. It should be possible to take bicycles on board all trains, and comprehensive information and the option of buying tickets to anywhere in Europe should be the norm. Access is to be guaranteed for the mobility-impaired. No compensation mechanism is necessary for freight transport.
National railway networks should be opened up gradually in the case of passenger transport, too. We shall be making our consent to this conditional upon the following, however: there must be no social dumping, and consideration must be given to the interests of the environment, as Parliament demanded in the Meijer report. In this connection, we welcome the fact that, several years on, the Commission has finally drawn up the new proposal for public services and sent it to Parliament.
There must be no destructive competition. For this reason, invitations to tender can be dispensed with if the existence of domestic railway undertakings is threatened. We need a report on competition experience to date: we want to emulate the good and learn from the mistakes. The experiences in Britain and Estonia have shown that the infrastructure must remain fully in the public sector. We see this as an essential requirement.
In conclusion, we, too, are in favour of the package remaining a package, and we hope that the Council also comes to the sensible decision and treats it as one. Thank you for your attention."@en1
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