Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-16-Speech-2-040"
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"en.20060516.5.2-040"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I am here today to present to you the proposal for a regulation on the Marco Polo II programme. This regulation is the successor to Marco Polo I, which was adopted in 2003, and has the same objectives. The new programme, like the old one, aims to reduce congestion on the road network, to improve the environmental performance of the transport system, and to strengthen intermodal transport in order to contribute to the implementation of an effective and sustainable transport system.
The programme will run from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013, and will have a budget of EUR 400 million, which is higher than that for Marco Polo I. The programme is structured around the granting of direct subsidies to companies to launch intermodal services; it is the most efficient way of providing public funding. This programme was designed, in the impact assessment, such that one euro of subsidy granted under Marco Polo II will generate more than six euros in terms of social and environmental benefits for society.
Although it is based on the mechanisms of the current programme, the regulation provides for two new types of action: those relating to motorways of the sea and those relating to traffic avoidance. These actions should help to reduce the volume of international road freight, and thus respond to the strong expectations of our citizens.
The Marco Polo II programme incorporates the concept of motorways of the sea, which has also been incorporated into the framework of the trans-European networks. It puts forward objectives that are appropriate to services related to these motorways of the sea. The calls for proposals between Germany and Finland, and between France and Spain, are now in progress. The actions related to the motorways of the sea aim to reduce road traffic in a specific corridor. This clearly visible Community added value will be of benefit to European citizens and, due to that, it deserves a Community contribution based on projects planned by consortia involving shippers, transport operators and infrastructure providers.
It is time to get the production sector and logistics systems more actively involved in a coherent sustainable development strategy. That is why the Commission has also provided for traffic avoidance actions. The industry has already taken an interest in this problem, in order to rationalise its supply chains and to reduce distribution and transport costs. Thus, we can see that the measures to improve industrial efficiency and the political will to reduce the negative effects of transport simply by trying to avoid it serve the same interests.
Marco Polo II also extends the scope of the programme to include all of the European Union's neighbours. Today, Europe as a whole, and not only the Union of 25 Member States, will find itself at the spearhead of an integrated transport market. Our neighbours to the East - Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Balkans - and those in the Mediterranean region form part of a huge integrated market for transport services. Production and the characteristics of the supply chain do not stop at the borders of the 25 Member States of the European Union.
The Council agreed on a partial general approach on 21 April 2005. I am delighted that the rapporteur and Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism have tried to achieve agreement at first reading. This constructive approach taken by the two institutions should enable us to adopt the regulation quickly and to launch an initial call for tenders under Marco Polo II. I should like to thank you, Mr Rack, and the Committee on Transport and Tourism of which you are the chairman.
With regard to the compromise that has been reached, four points are worth emphasising: aid to small and medium-sized enterprises, the funding thresholds for the various actions, the possible impact of traffic avoidance actions and the particular attention paid to sensitive and metropolitan areas. Parliament was quite right to underline the difficulties that small and medium-sized enterprises have in accessing this programme, and the new text will quite specifically make it easier for them. I am grateful to Mr Rack for stressing this point. The minimum subsidy thresholds for the various types of action have been reduced in comparison with those proposed by the Commission, and we will look into how we can deal with the increase in assessment and monitoring work that will result. I believe that the fear that the traffic avoidance measures could potentially have a negative effect on employment and cohesion in certain regions has been satisfactorily addressed. The new regulation also aims to give greater attention to sensitive and metropolitan areas.
Mr President, I apologise for taking such a long time in explaining this proposal. I should like to repeat how happy I am that Parliament has taken a very constructive approach to this report, with the result that, in my opinion, today's text is most satisfactory. I should like to thank you all, in particular the rapporteur and the Committee on Transport and Tourism."@en1
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