Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-08-Speech-2-460"
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"en.20080708.39.2-460"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure for me to introduce our debate this evening, because we have reached the end of an endeavour which was initially very difficult but whose outcome, it seems to me, is highly significant. We are discussing some very technical matters this evening, but in my opinion they are ones which will make a much more significant contribution to building Europe than many of the speeches we address to one another on so many other occasions.
We may not have noticed, but there are now almost 700 000 wagons in Europe which are able to move from one country to another and can be used by one company rather than another; until now, however, they have been prevented from crossing borders with relative ease because we had not established common safety rules on both sides.
This evening, by tackling two issues that complement the rules on interoperability and on the mutual recognition of rolling stock, already carried forward in January, we are eliminating other barriers, and doing so in such a way as to ensure that there is a harmonised system, not least from a safety point of view. With the regulation under discussion this evening, we are taking a second step forward: as well as extending the powers of the European Agency, we are giving it a crucial role in setting up the single railway signalling system, intended to replace no fewer than 23 existing systems in Europe. We are at last beginning to glimpse that single railway market envisaged by the first Treaty, back in 1957, but which has still not been achieved.
With regard to the proposal for a directive on safety, our main concern was to devise a maintenance certification system for wagons, at the service not just of railway companies and companies managing the infrastructure, but also, perhaps, of a third party deciding to invest in a fleet of wagons. None of this would detract from the liability of railway companies for the use of that rolling stock when it is on the move.
We discussed at length whether or not certification should be made voluntary rather than mandatory, and whether or not to confine ourselves to wagons rather than all other rolling stock. I believe that we came up with a good solution: the system will be mandatory and will cover wagons for the next two years; it will also cover other vehicles – passenger vehicles – within ten years or so. This system has been outlined, this road has been followed, and we will shortly arrive at our destination. The Agency regulation, I would emphasise, fully covers the European signalling system, making it possible to take a technological step forward and envisage the eventuality of eliminating other measures.
We had two difficulties: how to ensure that technological innovation – which must be fostered and increased – does not jeopardise the timeframe required for investment in the transition to the new signalling system. It seems to me that a solution has been found here too: namely to adopt a version 2.3.0 of the current system and move ahead with that, bearing in mind that by 2012 we will have introduced the even more advanced, definitive system. For these reasons, having – it seems to me – ingeniously solved both problems, I believe we can recommend that the House vote in favour of the agreement reached at second reading, enabling us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our work and of our relations with the Council."@en1
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