Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-25-Speech-1-071"
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"en.20060925.13.1-071"2
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"Air pollution causes major public health problems within the European Union. The Commission’s own calculations show that getting on for 370 000 premature deaths per year are caused by emissions into the air. Particulate emissions are the most important cause of these premature deaths, to which should be added all the health problems that affect people with asthma or allergies of one kind or another, children being an especially vulnerable group. Air pollution also creates major environmental problems in the form of eutrophication, acidification and ground-level ozone. There are clear reasons in terms of health and the environment for placing a strict limit on these emissions. Socio-economic calculations lead to the same conclusion. Society would benefit significantly by avoiding these costs linked to emissions.
The Commission’s proposed thematic strategy and proposal for a directive on better air quality are therefore a disappointment. The level of ambition is very low. Once again, we have been given sad confirmation that an ambitious environmental policy is not a priority for this European Commission. Unfortunately, the draft reports produced by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety are also inadequate compromises. The decisions proposed in them are quite simply not good enough to provide real remedies to the problems. We in the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left have therefore tabled a number of amendments with a view to making the proposals for directives more stringent. There are a number of purposes behind these various amendments. Firstly, we wish to remove the very generous exemptions that Member States would be allowed and as a result of which we should have to wait an unnecessary number of years before seeing the directive implemented in practice. Where the exposure reduction target is concerned, we believe that this should be binding, and we believe that it can be increased to 25%. When it comes to the concentration cap for particles, we wish to reduce this to ten micrograms, so putting it at the same level as that recommended for industrialised countries by the World Health Organisation (WHO). We also believe that the same requirements for low levels of pollution should be imposed everywhere, irrespective of natural sources of emissions. Otherwise, environments of different quality would be required for different people, dependent on where they happened to live. That is our position.
Mr President, I want to use the last half-minute to say a personal thank you. Tomorrow, I am standing down as a Member of the European Parliament, so this is my last speech in the House. I wish to thank those fellow Members with whom I have worked during the last 11 years. It has been a pleasure to have been able to work in this House. I also wish to thank Parliament’s services and, above all, the interpreters. Thank you very much."@en1
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