Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-12-Speech-1-066"
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"en.20070212.13.1-066"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, finally, we are about to reap the rewards of more than two and a half years of sustained commitment by a huge number of people, both in the Commission and in Parliament, who firmly believe in the added value of the INSPIRE Directive for environmental policy in the European Union. I know for a fact that this is not the sexiest issue we have ever discussed here, and given the highly technical content, everyone assumed that an agreement at first reading was on the cards. This was, however, overlooking the fact that some Member States were dead set against any form of harmonisation of spatial environmental information, and that were, above all, also concerned about compensation and licences and saw this initiative as a threat to national monopolies. No fewer than five Council presidencies had INSPIRE listed as a priority, but it was the Finnish Presidency that managed, during the night of 21 November 2006, to persuade the Member States to end their resistance. I should also like to take this opportunity of warmly thanking everyone who has done their bit to achieve this success, not least the Commissioner and his staff. They have done much of the groundwork, in tandem with an international team of experts that has responded with particular enthusiasm, as a result of which no time has been lost. I should also like to make a point of thanking the shadow rapporteurs and their staff, Parliament’s Legal Office, the Secretariat of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the conciliation secretariat, the Council presidency and all their staff.
Having discussed the procedure, I should now like to turn to the content. As you know, INSPIRE seeks to set up an infrastructure for spatial information in Europe in an attempt to assist environmental policy at every level. Everyone will be agreed that sound policy can only be adopted on the basis of information that is reliable and of the highest quality. When drafting fresh policy measures, policy makers must allow for the fact that problems that affect today’s quality of life have become ever more intertwined and complex. The areas to which the Sixth Environmental Programme gives attention are this reliable knowledge along with informed participation on the part of the public. The directive that we hope to approve tomorrow sets down the objectives, and the Member States now have two years to fine-tune their national legislation and administrative procedures. In other words, by the next European elections, INSPIRE will be a
and will be based on the existing infrastructure for spatial data of the different Member States. After all, via a geo-portal, INSPIRE will offer Member States the opportunity of making all geographical databases available as a first step towards harmonisation. This idea, which everyone obviously welcomes as such, was, however, the cause of heated discussions within some Member States that were anxious to protect their returns on the sale of geographical data, but also with regard to access to information, wanted to impose stricter restrictions than provided for in the Treaty of Aarhus. It is precisely these two latter challenges that have prevented Parliament from reaching agreement with the Council at second reading. I should like to repeat to the House that I am delighted that during the conciliation procedure, we managed to ensure that in general, services for searching and consulting spatial information must be made available free of charge. Only if the conditions are clearly formulated can compensation be applied for so as not to jeopardise the financial viability of some government services.
As for intellectual property rights, Parliament has decided to impose the provisions of the Treaty of Aarhus concerning access to information in environmental matters to the letter and thus not to admit any stricter restrictions on the basis of confidentiality, in line with the Council’s request. I think we have struck an honourable compromise, and I hope that tomorrow, Parliament will be supporting this agreement unanimously so that implementation can really start in the Member States.
I would like to add a brief comment about the scope of applications. This is virtually inexhaustible once the loopholes have been plugged and inconsistencies between European geographical databases have been resolved, which at the moment, often make planning impossible and, in certain cases, even cause chaos. The system as it stands is essential to improve and manage the water quality in Europe. The information collected can also help prevent and control floods.
All in all, I would go so far as to say that INSPIRE is a valuable addition to existing environmental legislation in the European Union, and we will follow its transposition in the Member States from close range and with much interest."@en1
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