Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-28-Speech-3-145"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20071128.18.3-145"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
". −
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today, as a result of globalisation, our economy, the progress of the Community and the welfare of our citizens depend more than ever on an effective, efficient, economic and, above all, sustainable system of transport.
I want to end by thanking all the shadow rapporteurs for their help and cooperation in achieving this objective.
All modes of transport are needed. The railways enjoyed glory days in the beginning, but were then pushed aside by vehicles travelling on roads and motorways, due to their greater versatility, individuality and accessibility. Now, with our roads at risk of collapse and our environment in a critical state due to pollution, we are once again looking at the railways as a hope for the future to meet our needs for domestic mobility.
Aware of this, the Commission has proposed a new legislative package to improve the technical part of the regulatory framework for rail transport. This involves revising the directives on interoperability and safety and the Regulation on the European Railway Agency. In general terms, it was years ago that the European institutions first considered the need to consolidate the railways at Community level. Just on the issue of interoperability, everyone knows that, in July 1996, in other words 11 years ago, we adopted Council Directive 96/48/EC on the high-speed rail system followed, in March 2001, by the Directive on the trans-European conventional rail system.
However, for more than a decade, the levels of interoperability of the European networks have not gone beyond 7% and it is the requirement for national approval of locomotives and traction units in each of the Member States where these are to be used that is currently one of the main barriers to the creation of new railway companies dedicated to the transport of passengers and freight, and also a major obstacle to the interoperability of the European railway system. As Member States cannot decide on their own that their authorisations for placing in service will be valid on the territory of other Member States, a Community initiative to simplify and harmonise national procedures and to encourage more systematic use of the principle of mutual recognition is necessary.
The current directives regulate only new rolling stock placed in service. The new directive is intended to consolidate, recast and merge the current directives. For our part, based on brief technical reports that we requested in accordance with Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, we have proposed transferring to our Interoperability Directive the contents of the former Article 14 of the Safety Directive. This is specifically intended to give the rail sector greater legal certainty and enable the simplification of the authorisation for placing in service.
We agree with the condition of there being at least one authorisation issued by one Member State for each vehicle. This authorisation will stem from compliance with the ‘EC’ declaration and with the applicable technical specifications on interoperability. Member States will consider as meeting the essential technical requirements those structural subsystems authorised to be placed into service in any other Member State and will not require any further authorisation, except where compatibility with infrastructure characteristics or limitations may be affected.
In our report, we wanted to structure the various aspects and sections of the directive in a way more easily understandable to those concerned, by devoting a specific chapter to the requirements for placing vehicles into service, depending on whether this involves first or second authorisations or vehicles meeting all the TSIs (Technical Specifications of Interoperability) or only some of these.
On all the aspects mentioned and throughout the whole procedure, we have remained in periodic contact with the shadow rapporteurs of the various political groups, the Commission and also the Council Presidency. We have finally been able to reach agreement, having resolved an important issue which was the maximum time limits for deciding on an authorisation, thus eradicating the well-known and paralysing administrative silence due to a lack of decision.
Following a great deal of effort, we have agreed that authorisation will be automatic in the absence of a decision and we have also agreed on the rest of the articles. On behalf of this Parliament, we have therefore tabled a joint amendment, signed by all the parliamentary groups, which contains the same text that will be presented to the Council of Transport Ministers. I hope that the fact of having reached agreement at first reading will be beneficial to the whole sector."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples