Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-13-Speech-2-395"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20051213.62.2-395"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, once this regulation is adopted, it will bring about a considerable improvement in conditions for our fellow citizens with disabilities or reduced mobility. It aims to protect the rights of passengers when travelling by air and the major principle of our Community policy on non-discrimination against disabled people and those with reduced mobility.
I would like to thank the European Parliament, particularly your rapporteur, Mr Evans, who cooperated with the Council and the Commission to facilitate the speedy adoption of this proposal. This is not the only initiative that aims to improve protection for people with reduced mobility in the transport sector: the Commission has made a commitment to look into the need to improve and guarantee these same rights in other modes of transport. People with reduced mobility must be guaranteed appropriate assistance, regardless of where they are going, and regardless of what mode of transport they are using.
The Commission has already put forward a proposal for rail passengers and I intend to do the same for people with reduced mobility who use maritime transport and international coach transport. I think, Mr Twigg, ladies and gentlemen, that in 2005 we really have made progress to the benefit of all people with reduced mobility, thus helping them to truly feel part of the European Union.
The proposal before you today meets this objective of non-discrimination. It aims to set up ways of prohibiting operators from unreasonably refusing to transport people with reduced mobility by denying them the assistance they need. In this proposal, to be presented on 16 February, the Commission is pursuing four aims: there must be no discrimination against people with disabilities or reduced mobility; they must not be directly charged for the assistance they receive; this assistance must comply with a set of minimum standards and must be seamless; and responsibility for providing such assistance must be given to those best able to provide it – airports and airlines.
In order to achieve these aims, assistance on the ground, around and within airports, remains the responsibility of the airports, while the air carriers must be obliged to provide assistance on board aircraft.
Ladies and gentlemen, assistance for people with reduced mobility must not be watered down. It must be organised by a single body responsible for ensuring that it is applied comprehensively, consistently and effectively. In terms of concrete implementation, the proposal includes all the flexibility needed to design appropriate solutions for the airports and airlines.
As you know, the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council agreed on a general approach to this proposal in October. Thanks to Parliament’s constructive contribution, we hope that this important text can be adopted quickly, so as to provide disabled people and those with reduced mobility with the real possibility of assistance, throughout Europe. That demonstrates the importance of this text in terms of society and solidarity.
I would like to thank you in advance, Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, for acting to ensure that we can give this advance as a gift – if I may put it that way during this festive season – to all disabled or elderly people and to everyone with reduced mobility, so that they can make use of all our modes of transport, just like able-bodied people."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples