Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-16-Speech-4-163"
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"en.20060316.21.4-163"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I should like to thank Mrs Thyssen for her report and for her cooperative spirit.
Although it has been adopted unanimously within the parliamentary committee responsible, the Socialist Group in the European Parliament has asked for a debate on this report. In fact, even if the groups as a whole agree in good faith to afford the highest political priority to consumer protection, I can see that there are still differences of opinion about the right way to go about it. Also, while the feasibility of this programme is on hold pending the outcome of the negotiations on the financial perspective, I should like to go over a few basic points from the Socialist Group.
First of all, I should like to remind you of our support for separating the two action plans, for public health and for consumer protection. Next, in relation to the horizontal objectives of the plan, the Socialist Group considers that the means of redress, both for individuals and for groups, available in some Member States, constitute real progress for consumers. That is the reason for our Amendment 55.
Next, with regard to the specific actions of the programme, I should like to highlight the importance of the following: the development of tools to enable scientific assessment of the effects on consumers of exposure to chemicals released from products; the compilation of an inventory, what one might call a
of the existing legislation, regulations and practices in the Member States in relation to consumer protection and including an assessment of the implementation of Community legislation at national level; and exchanges between national and local consumer associations in order to assist public authorities to make legislation at a European level in matters concerning the protection of users in the field of services of general economic interest, and that is the meaning of our Amendment 58.
Thirdly, regarding the legislative measures to accompany this programme, I wish to address myself in particular to Mr Kyprianou concerning the political and legislative measures that he has promised to present to us in the autumn, specifically to accompany this programme. The terms of the debate are familiar. How best to intervene at European level? Is it better to favour European law or to favour self-regulation on the part of the economic operators? How are we to link emerging European law in relation to consumer protection with national laws that are older and that often afford greater protection for the citizens in some Member States?
In my view, while our fellow citizens’ mobility is increasing, I consider that the role of European public authorities is to ensure the best possible protection for consumers. I do not object at all to initiatives concerning self-regulation, but they must be the responsibility of the economic agents themselves and their aim must be to improve on the minimum standards fixed by the legislator.
Finally, we should be extremely careful in respect of two dossiers that relate to today’s debate. The first concerns discussions about the common framework of reference in relation to European contract law and the second concerns the extension of standardisation procedures in the services sector, including services that are given collective preferences, such as social housing.
These are the comments that I wished to make on behalf of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament."@en1
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