Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-19-Speech-4-033"
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"en.20080619.2.4-033"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that as a result of Parliament’s work, as a result of the text of the communication drawn up by Commissioner Reding for whom I am standing in, and also the excellent work by Mrs Gurmai, we have today given an important signal to the citizens listening to us in the gallery, who in theory represent the five hundred million European citizens, that the institutions are listening to citizens and are trying to find answers to citizens’ needs, something which has to be the first priority of this Parliament, the Council and the Commission.
I welcome Parliament’s encouragement, its support for the eCall system and the measures to promote its implementation, and I therefore believe that the outcome of today’s debate is positive because the Commission, Parliament and I hope the Council, Mr President, have agreed to be on the side of citizens through this endeavour to save as many human lives as possible.
Only in that way will we close the gap between the peoples of Europe and the institutions. The best response that we can give to the sceptics, those who voted ‘no’ in the referendums, is to show that Europe is close to citizens; we have to send out a positive message and have the courage to press ahead and make it understood that people, that citizens’ needs, are our top priority, and I am therefore pleased to take up your invitation, Mr President.
Road safety will be, as far as I am concerned, and as far as the Directorate-General which answers to the Commissioner for Transport is concerned, the priority – I said so in the speech through which I was able to gain the confidence of this House, which I thank again, having been here for so many years, for the confidence it has shown in me – as I was saying, the safety of citizens: the individual has to be at the heart of our initiative.
I have listened to the whole of this debate with a great deal of interest, and there was indeed a resolve today on the part of the institutions to provide answers, to save human lives; every human life that we are capable of saving through our legislative work, through our commitment, will be commendable work that will be to our credit. It is for that reason that we need to press ahead and for that reason that I share the stance of so many Members who have today stressed the importance of intelligent instruments and intelligent cars, although we have to ensure beforehand that man is intelligent because the first responsibility lies with citizens at the wheel who have to be aware that there are other citizens whose lives depend on their actions.
Technology undoubtedly has to be at the service of man, the human and fundamental element, and it is for that reason that I share the stance of those – and I said this during my presentation speech – who argue that drivers need to be educated, that citizens need to be informed about the new instruments that technology and research enable us to place at the service of the citizen. Otherwise, it is pointless to spend public money, or private money, on research, if the discoveries that are made, if the initiatives that are brought to a successful conclusion are not placed at the service of citizens in order to save human lives. It is for that reason, I repeat, that the road safety sector will be a priority – and that is a commitment which I formally make to the European Parliament – and one of the main undertakings that the Commission and the transport sector will pursue in forthcoming months.
I should like briefly to answer the question raised by Mr Pribetich as regards timing. On the basis of the results of a consultation launched on 23 May 2008, the European Commission has proposed a regulation on type-approval requirements for the general safety of vehicles which states that, from 2012, electronic stability control systems are to be installed in new vehicles in order significantly to improve the safety of those vehicles. The regulation refers to the technical regulations harmonised within the World Forum of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
In reply to Mrs Ayala Sender, as regards heavy vehicles, in November 2007 the UNECE World Forum for harmonisation of vehicle regulations approved a text relating to the compulsory installation of ESC and related technical standards. That text has been supported by the European Commission which means that it will be compulsory to install ESC in new models of the most common categories of heavy vehicles from 2010.
As regards the occupational vehicles to which she referred, especially those in the agricultural sector – in Europe there are unfortunately still deaths from accidents caused by agricultural vehicles, in some cases as a result of the irresponsibility of drivers failing to drive with due care – at present no provision has been made, as priority has been given to cars and heavy vehicles. I welcome her suggestion, however, as regards my own area of competence and I shall also pass it on to Commissioner Reding because it seems to me to be an important proposal and would meet a need in rural areas in particular. In the agricultural sector, I repeat, there are unfortunately still many deaths which are not deaths on roads but on agricultural land and we cannot pretend that this is not a problem.
For that reason, I thank you, Mrs Ayala Sender, for your suggestion, and I thank all the Members who have spoken; the Commission, I reiterate – I am concluding, Mr President, and I apologise if I have taken a few extra minutes, but I feel that this issue is important enough for us to overrun the times laid down by the rules. As I was saying, we welcome the report by Mrs Gurmai who I also thank for her enthusiasm, because we have to show that we are enthusiastic about our commitment to defending the rights of citizens."@en1
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