Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-11-Speech-2-387"
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"en.20071211.40.2-387"2
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".
Commissioner, thank you very much for your remarks. It was quite thrilling to hear what you told us about the process and the timetable. The issue that will be on the table in June is crucial, and not only for the Alpine region. I believe that you – a man of the mountains, as you have described yourself – are patently aware of this and that it is important to you. It has major implications for all roads as well as for all countries whose transport routes, and especially roads, carry high volumes of traffic and for all who live near these busy arteries. The huge costs generated by such heavy traffic place an enormous burden on the countries most affected by it. This burden is more than doubled, according to numerous studies that have already appeared, by external costs. That point must be taken into consideration, and its importance needs to be far more clearly reflected in the actions of the Commission.
We shall not be content, however, Commissioner, with a philosophical and mathematical treatment of the issue of assessing external costs. We need implementation, but we cannot wait for twenty years until the last lobbyist has been convinced. Nor shall we be able to wait until the environmental pollution from bicycles has been calculated too. The bottom line is that we shall have to act immediately. We need a proposal for a regulatory instrument in the course of 2008, we need to discuss it, and we need to conduct this debate now, not in twenty years’ time because we have had to wait until everyone has been convinced by governments of countries which are, in many cases, far less seriously affected by the problem than those in the central part of the European Union.
Commissioner, the mountains need you to act. Sensitive places such as cities and other protected areas need a written regulation that clearly states what is reckonable. The Member States can no longer bear the burden of environmental pollution alone, and they should not be required to do so for much longer."@en1
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