Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-07-10-Speech-2-446"
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like first of all, quite simply but frankly, to say to Mrs Satu Hassi that I am surprised by her comments as we are totally committed to sustainable mobility. I am surprised, Mrs Hassi, that you should think that we are forgetting the ‘polluter pays’ principle. I think I made, with Mr Dimas, a brave commitment about sharing with aviation the allowances for greenhouse gas emissions. We observe a political line and I am very surprised by your comments which, if I may say, seem to me a little excessive.
I shall not elaborate on the international dimension. It is obviously necessary to pursue this policy that has enabled us to sign an open sky agreement with the United States and with other countries. Henceforth, we are going to pursue all these efforts.
Mr President, I shall leave it at that, because, of course, all of that deserves much more explanation. I thank Parliament and particularly Mrs Barsi-Pataky, because I think we are engaged in a transport policy that really takes into account future requirements, which looks not to the past but very much to the future, with this double objective: to enable mobility such as the Lisbon objectives require and, at the same time, to ensure that this mobility remains compatible with the demands of environmental protection and the fight against global warming. It is a very difficult battle. I thank Parliament very much for its support and, personally, I feel very committed to these efforts towards sustainable mobility.
I am also going to take the opportunity of saying to Mr Kusstatscher that I find it difficult to understand him: it is quite clear that at a time when we are building infrastructures for high speed trains, we are freeing up conventional lines for freight. It is not just by chance that I stated just now that there would be a communication on railway lines dedicated to freight.
Mrs Sommer, may I say to you also that I am not looking for competences. On the other hand, I take into account, on the one hand, the expectations of citizens and, on the other hand, the fact that, if you want rail to have its rightful place in Europe, it is necessary to ensure interoperability. If you want a sustainable development policy, there comes a moment when you can do it only by coordination and harmonisation on a European scale. I say this to you straight out, because you will understand that as a Commissioner, committed as I am, I am happy to accept a certain number of justified criticisms, but I feel obliged to answer back directly when the criticism becomes excessive.
I come now to some comments that I wanted to make. The Commission has already begun removing obstacles to the running of trains: simplifying the certification of railway vehicles, railway interoperability and safety, the third rail package. I thank your Committee on Transport and Tourism for their work in this field towards reaching an agreement.
In the aviation sector, we have two regulations concerning the interoperability of European traffic management systems. We adopted, in 2007, an ‘airports’ package that is focussed on the role of airports in the competitiveness of the internal aviation market and, as for infrastructures, we have a new trans-European network (TEN). Mr Costa is right, however, when he says that we shall have to really redouble our efforts to coordinate financing because, as Mrs Ayala and others have emphasised, we find ourselves faced with a budget which is too limited to be able really to undertake the major works on infrastructure that will enable sustainable mobility. You are absolutely right and I thank Parliament for forcefully pointing it out.
Mr Koch spoke about co-modality in tourism and he is right. Co-modality must also work in favour of passengers. As far as infrastructures are concerned, as I have just said, we are going to try to mobilise all possible resources and to develop public private partnerships with the involvement of the European Investment Bank.
I shall say a brief word on the social aspects of transport. From April new social rules in relation to professional road transport came into force and we presented three proposals for regulations with a view to modernising admission to the occupation of road transport operator and access to the road transport market. With regard to passengers’ rights, we have, thanks to Parliament, begun to introduce rights for passengers with reduced mobility in all modes of transport, particularly by coach and by sea. I will admit to you, knowing Parliament’s sensitivity on this subject, that we must now actually put these rights into practice.
As far as safety is concerned, I should like to emphasise again the priority of road safety in our action, as the first European Road Safety Day attests. We have also simplified the rules in relation to transport of dangerous goods and we have three air, sea and rail safety agencies, which are not idle. Safety will keep us busy in the autumn in the context of conciliation on common rules in the aviation sector.
With regard to innovation, on which Mrs Barsi-Pataky was right to insist, it is really a major problem. Transport has to benefit from new technology. That will be the case with the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) for air traffic. It is the case with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) to equip new railway lines and then, of course, it will be the case with energy saving and green propulsion to ensure the sustainability of road mobility. All that will be the subject of an action plan for energy efficiency and will be part of the European strategy for energy defined by the European Council."@en1
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