Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-24-Speech-1-092"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20070924.16.1-092"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, Churchill once said that the best way to make a task seem difficult is to postpone it, and I think that is one way of describing the energy debate we are having in Europe today. In answering Mr Chichester, who says he thinks ‘green’ and votes ‘blue’ – well, what is left, maybe, is to act ‘green’ as well.
The proposal from the Commission and the decisions we have in place on 20% of the total energy consumption in Europe by 2020 being derived from renewable sources is, indeed, very good. It is also nice for everyone – for all voters, industry and citizens in Europe – to see that Parliament, thanks to Ms Thomsen’s work on this report, is also very decided that this is a good way to work and that this is the way we should do it.
Is it possible? There are question marks, of course, when people ask questions. I think it is perfectly possible. If we look at what can be done in industry by trigeneration and by using renewables, it is perfectly possible. In households, on heating and cooling, it is also perfectly possible, and in the transport sector also. I am very happy that, in combination with what we have here on renewables, other regulations in place in Europe are changed. It is about time we put more ethanol in petrol, and with the new decisions we will at least have half the rate that Brazil has. I think it is about time that we discussed whether we put biogas and natural gas as well, which is the best way of boosting the volumes we need. When we do that, we also have the market in place and then the development goes on by itself, step by step.
There are some responsibilities, of course. The renewable action plan – both at European level and national levels – has to be good and come into force quickly.
The second area I want to point out is taxes. I cannot understand why we tax people out of behaviour that we want them to have when it comes to fuels of different kinds.
The third thing is regulation, where we can still do a lot and where we have to do some cleaning also in the European system.
Finally, I think we are in the midst of an engineering revolution that has the same consequences as when we went from steam to electricity, and now we are going from electricity to smart energy, and this is a very good step on the way."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples