Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-297"
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"en.20050927.22.2-297"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, rail issues are by their very nature of interest to all of those living in the European Union and all of its Member States. For a long time, geography determined the transport services on offer and nations’ policies. Today, technology and the construction of major infrastructures are enriching the sector and in their turn determining the future of economic and cultural exchanges. We have a role to play in this sector: building bridges between nations and promoting exchange. But not just any old exchange! We need an exchange that enriches national specificities, because the exchange has to be of a complementary nature to be justified and worthwhile. We are delighted to have texts promoting such genuinely free exchanges between sovereign peoples. Nevertheless, reading the three reports that have been tabled today, it seems to us that three simple principles, governing how nations are ordered, have been disregarded.
The first principle that does not seem to us to have been respected in every case is that of subsidiarity. In the transport sector, as elsewhere, we think that everything that can be done at the level closest to the action should be done at that level, and only what is absolutely necessary will be left to the higher level. We therefore do not understand why the Sterckx report, which rightly cites the international convention COTIF, hastens to encumber the text with a surfeit of details that ought to be dealt with under this convention, a convention which we ought by the way to be relaunching. In this particular case, extending the rights of those with reduced mobility is the exception, as it is vital to do so. But this imperative could be the subject of a simple injunction of principle to COTIF. Furthermore, why, by the same token, in Mr Savary’s excellent report on staff training, is a clearer distinction not drawn between the training of drivers on the one hand and that of train crews on the other? Why not simply certify different competences, since the professions are radically different?
The second principle that we feel has been abused is the respect for sovereignty. We cannot allow the fact that transport services need to be organised at international level to become a Trojan Horse to invade national law. The amended Sterckx report systematically substitutes the expression ‘all rail passengers’ for the notion of ‘international rail passengers’. We cannot agree to national law being made subordinate to international law in this way.
The third principle that is disregarded is that of prudence. There is a lack of prudence when, in Mr Jarzembowski’s report, Amendment 8 proposes a period of only three years to implement significant changes. We have to give these things time: too hasty and you are doomed to failure. There is also a lack of prudence in the Sterckx report in that it tries to deal with everything in one single dossier: with disability, ticketing, compensation in the case of accidents and penalties in the case of substandard services. Dealing with everything means losing relevance. A lack of prudence is also displayed in the failure to state clearly that the railways should serve the needs above all of freight and in particular long-distance freight. Similarly there is a lack of prudence in the failure to first include these proposals in the report on very competitive modes of transport.
In conclusion, we acknowledge the painstaking and commendable work done by the Commissioner, but once again we remain doubtful about such an avalanche of legal provisions and the effectiveness of this Parliament’s methods."@en1
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