Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-341"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20051115.29.2-341"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
It is a great pleasure to be here this evening and be able to listen to this debate and the individual contributions from Members of Parliament. Can I also say to the Vice-President of the Commission that I found his speech most interesting and informative.
I would like to finish by saying that I am looking forward to the debate and the individual contributions and I am pleased to be here this evening.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the rapporteur, Mrs De Veyrac, and Members of the European Parliament, in particular those in its Committee on Transport and Tourism, for the hard work they have put into this important proposal. I would also like to thank the drafting committee from the three institutions which has made the agreement today so much easier.
The Council attaches the highest priority to aviation safety. It shares your determination that initiatives should continue to be taken to ensure that aircraft carrying Europe’s citizens around the world are safe. We were all shocked by the number of air accidents that occurred in August and September this year, in which too many of our citizens lost their lives.
In light of those events, Parliament seized the opportunity to amend the proposal from the Commission. You proposed amendments aimed at strengthening the scope for Community-wide action on the safety of airlines. Although the Council had agreed a general approach in April on the principle of information sharing, ministers expressed support for this new objective at the Transport Council on 6 October.
The Council believes that the procedures for assessing the safety of carriers set up by the regulation are the most appropriate. We considered whether a role might be given to the European Aviation Safety Agency but decided that this would be premature: the agency is still consolidating its structures and procedures and recruiting the staff necessary to carry out its present responsibilities. We should therefore be cautious about giving it new responsibilities too soon.
The expertise and experience in dealing with the safety of air carriers currently exists in the Member States and it is important to draw on this expertise so that it can be applied fully for the safety of our citizens. The process of banning air carriers and publishing this information is important, but we should not lose sight of the extra rights to be given to consumers.
The Council agrees that passengers should be given information about the identity of carriers they may book to fly with and that they be kept up to date on the changes in the carriers once bookings are made. The text today makes important contributions to both of those important safety and consumer objectives.
I am delighted that a deal has been reached and that it will allow concerted action to be taken in a timely, transparent and well-organised way. It will identify carriers that do not meet acceptable international safety standards and ensure that action is taken to ban them throughout the Community and that information about such action is published. It is a measure of the importance that we all attach to those objectives that Parliament, Council and the Commission have worked so constructively together to prepare the text.
Credit is due to everyone concerned, especially to the rapporteur for her inclusive approach to reaching early agreement. I understand also that the recently established drafting committee contributed to the swift and efficient way in which a first-reading deal was arrived at. Clearly, this is a valuable tool for future negotiations."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples