Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-27-Speech-2-310"
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"en.20050927.22.2-310"2
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"Mr President, I should like to start by thanking my fellow Members for their good work and, above all, for the debates, which were excellent in terms of content and have been instrumental in achieving the quality of our proposals. It is high time rail transport in Europe became more efficient and more customer-friendly.
That is why I should like to start with a question to Mr Barrot, Vice-President of the Commission. How do you assess the implementation of the first and second railway packages by the Member States and what steps will you take in order to accelerate this? After all, and that is my belief, the effective introduction of those two railway packages in practice is far more important for the improvement of train services than decisions on new rules.
The certification of train drivers is desperately needed and the abandonment of the quality requirements for freight transport will not create any problems, since that sector is quite capable of organising these things for itself. Whilst Mr Sterckx has done a sterling job of simplifying the proposal for passengers’ rights, under the leadership of Mr Jarzembowski, this House will be voting in favour of the liberalisation of passenger transport. This is to be welcomed where international transport is concerned, but the proposal for liberalising domestic transport is taking matters too far in my book, because forced competition on domestic rail sections by competing railway companies is not a guarantee for a better provision of services and is, indeed, compromising the train services’ punctuality and reliability, especially on dense, wide networks. We must take seriously the developments that have ensued in practice since the vote on the second railway package – by which I mean both the problems and the arrival of the new Member States. Member States must retain the freedom to organise necessary competition differently, like in the Netherlands, for example, with concessions for a core network to one railway company. We, the Dutch delegation of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) will therefore be voting against Amendments 2 and 9.
Since the Council is unenthusiastic about Parliament’s far-reaching position, the necessary discussions will undoubtedly follow in due course."@en1
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