Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-18-Speech-3-267"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080618.23.3-267"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, it has been a fascinating debate and I am very sorry that the time has passed so quickly.
Whether it is the companies of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Aramco, that we should tax, or Gazprom, we cannot tax them because they have national legislation on taxation. Concerning European companies, we do not have any company nowadays that has a huge windfall profit because of oil and gas.
They also needed to invest in other projects as well, and if you know these companies, you should indicate them. If you know these companies that have such a beautiful life...
E.ON does not work in oil. Eni works in oil but invests billions in projects, for example for South Stream, for the projects in Kashagan – they invest billions – and Libya. Each company has a role in the market.
Madam President, this is a fantastic debate. I am glad that we will have the possibility to come back to this debate, because there are no simple answers. But I believe our proposal is measured and it is the right one.
As my job requires, I have been to the places where oil is being produced: the Caspian Sea, the Barents Sea, Saudi Arabia. I think one mistake we make is thinking that it is easy to produce. It costs billions, and in very difficult environments. Costs overrun, there is local damage to the environment and people are unhappy about a lot of projects. So it is very clear that, if we speak about oil issues, we should not be looking for those responsible but should try to find the appropriate responses in the European Union. If we believe that this same approach would help everybody, we should follow it.
There are no magical measures. Energy efficiency is the number one measure. Without this, the world will have much higher prices. It is very clear.
Well, we are doing quite a lot. Renewable energy and also alternative energy sources like nuclear are important also to alleviate the problem. New technology investment is needed, and for the sectors it is important to address structural measures, not just subsidies: subsidy is taking from one pocket to put into another pocket. For example, regarding tonight’s fisheries debate, I would ask why fishermen cannot pass increased fuel prices on to the price of fish, because that is the basic question: what happens, what prevents it? This means that we should address sectoral measures.
On a global level I believe that it is very clear what we are trying to do, to try to remove the OPEC policy of capping supplies to the market, of not allowing, in many cases, Western companies to come with technology and knowledge to produce oil and thus create better supply. For developed nations we should lead the way in energy efficiency, and my proposal for international partnership has been adopted by the G8. But, as everybody expected oil prices to come down to USD 9 per barrel, the world was late, and now we know that we should follow this policy.
Concerning consumer protection, I believe that the Commission has always been very consistent on this. I have a lot of infringement cases where countries have not even informed the Commission, as is their duty, about public service obligations, meaning that legal documents adopted after the Commission proposal have all the necessary elements in them, and they should be implemented.
I believe that the Commission’s response and the Council’s response is measured and right. Each place in the market has its role. I know that nobody likes to defend speculators, but what is the future market’s role? It indicates where the price could go and allows investments to be made. Well, I could say, ‘Let’s tax everybody higher’ – we can increase tax to 100% for everybody, but it will mean that we lose the incentive to invest. Let us instead make the incentive to invest, let us allow positive ways to investment to be made. So that is what we need."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples