Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-14-Speech-2-038"
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"en.20061114.6.2-038"2
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the report by Mrs Hennicot-Schoepges on which you are invited to give an opinion is a thorough-going, high-quality report. I wish to thank Mrs Hennicot-Schoepges and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, together with Mr Bradbourn, the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on Legal Affairs, for their support for the Commission's proposal on SESAR, a major European project.
Your report, Mrs Hennicot-Schoepges, coincides with the Commission’s position, and we support most of your amendments. I shall not go into the details of the debate on all of the amendments that have been tabled, but limit myself instead to a few general remarks.
First of all, I note that Parliament and the Commission take the same view of the strategic importance of major technological and industrial programmes like SESAR and GALILEO. SESAR is a vital programme for the competitiveness of the European aviation industry. It forms part of the Community’s technological innovation programme, which lies at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy.
In a sector as crucial for the European economy as this one, it is vital that public bodies and the private sector pool their resources to build together what will become the most efficient, most reliable and safest air traffic control infrastructure in the world. This public-private partnership requires a clear division of roles, together with transparent procedures, so that potential conflicts of interest can be pre-empted. The Commission therefore welcomes the amendments tabled by Parliament along these lines.
As regards some of Parliament’s means of intervention, there is a matter of principle at stake. SESAR is a partnership between the public and private sectors, and the essential prerequisite for private sector participation is that the programme is managed as a business. Furthermore, and Mrs Hennicot-Schoepges highlighted this point very well in her report, voting rights in the Administrative Board of the SESAR joint undertaking must be balanced and weighted in proportion to financial contribution, which is one of the sound principles of good management in any private business.
It is accordingly difficult to accept Parliament’s amendment aimed at gaining representation for Parliament on the Administrative Board. As Parliament is the Community’s main budgetary control authority, it cannot perform its monitoring duties and, at the same time, sit even as a simple observer on a Board that it is charged with monitoring.
On a similar theme, the industry is keen for the choice of executive director to be based on objective criteria of experience and technical knowledge, rather than on political criteria. It is important to acknowledge that the SESAR joint undertaking is an instrument for managing a technological research and development programme and has no regulatory-type role.
Consequently, it would make no sense for Parliament to be directly involved in the process of selecting an executive director of the SESAR joint undertaking. The Commission does support, however, all amendments aimed at ensuring that Parliament be kept properly and continuously informed about the SESAR programme.
Madam President, I am delighted with Parliament’s work. I am convinced that a few differences of opinion will not hamper our joint efforts to make this programme a success for the EU. I should like to add that the whole of our environmental policy will receive a further boost, insofar as SESAR means aircraft being able to take off on time and not needing to be stacked, with the result that energy will be saved and needless carbon emissions prevented. This is why, from all points of view – passenger safety, energy saving and environmental quality – SESAR is an absolutely vital project."@en1
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