Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-16-Speech-2-043"
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"en.20060516.5.2-043"2
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member; Delegation for relations with the countries of the Andean Community (2004-09-15--2007-03-13)3
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".
Mr President, Mr Vice-President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by taking this opportunity to thank my compatriot Mr Rack, the rapporteur, for the good cooperation, and also the Members belonging to my own group for their patience with me and the confidence they have shown in me in this matter, for, as Mr Rack said at the end of his speech, the Council’s rather roundabout approach to this has, time and time again, made amendments necessary at short notice. I really am, then, most grateful for your trust.
As we are all aware, the European transport system will face major challenges over the next few years, and they need to be addressed right now. It is to be expected that there will be an increase in traffic of up to 60%, along with the predictable consequences in the shape of traffic jams, damage to the environment, accidents and the risk of a loss of competitiveness on the part of European industry. The Marco Polo II programme is, in this respect, certainly capable of meeting the requirements of business and industry on the one hand, but also those of the environmentalists on the other, meeting the needs of the environment and all that is associated with that; that is one reason why I was very glad that it was possible relatively quickly to draft an extended and adapted Marco Polo programme.
There were of course positive and negative aspects to this. One negative aspect is the budget, which, having originally been quite generous, was then reduced to EUR 400 million, which is particularly disappointing when one considers the cuts that will have to be made right across the transport sector, and it appears that the EU has set itself the wrong priorities where the figures in the budget are concerned.
Most of what can be said about Marco Polo II is, however, encouraging; it is in those terms that one can describe the reduction in the minimum grant thresholds, since the programme did not previously apply to small and medium-sized enterprises. It is also important that the programme covers one aspect in particular, namely the shift onto rails and the modernisation of rolling stock.
I also regard it as a particular breakthrough that, in contrast to the former Marco Polo programme, it is not only the tonnage that counts, but that, for the first time, the volume can be taken into account as well. This amounts to a considerable step forward.
Finally, I think it particularly significant that the text addresses the jobs issue and that we have taken the initiative on this front too. I now look forward with eager anticipation to see how this turns out in practice and hope that the programme will be a good one."@en1
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