Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-08-Speech-2-523"
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"en.20080708.42.2-523"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, today’s debate was triggered by a German WDR television report that showed that the safety belts now in common use in planes for infants and small children are not necessarily safe. Crash tests have shown that these belts, which are the devices most commonly used by European airlines, may actually endanger children and cause serious injuries.
At a time when we are considering the EU OPS, i.e. the technical safety provisions, and they will soon enter into force, I was concerned to ensure that we resolve this safety problem, which is why I showed my colleagues in the Committee on Transport and Tourism the video on the subject. In my view, it is quite crucial to take a serious look at the crash tests that have been conducted and that have shown that these belts do not save a child in the event that take-off is aborted or a plane lands rapidly and to seek an immediate solution. I think that is extremely urgent.
The current, proposed rules will continue to authorise these belts, disregarding the fact that far more stringent safety provisions apply to children even in cars, in most European states at least. Even if emergency landings or aborted take-offs are very, very rare – for which we are most thankful and which is also to do with technical rules – we cannot allow infants and small children to be exposed to this risk. Anyone who has seen this crash test will be convinced that we cannot allow that.
My colleagues in the Committee on Transport looked into this issue with me and I am very grateful that they too took it very seriously. We want to find a good solution to this problem. A few safety experts have now objected that there is not a single known case of this kind of belt proving dangerous. Unfortunately, there is a macabre background to that.
If infants or children do not occupy a seat they are not recorded in the statistics. The underlying facts have been known for years. The German Ministry of Transport has drawn attention to this and said it did not want to go back to a lower safety level. The association of German airlines, however, described the listing of the risks as populism. I must say in all honesty that this can only be regarded as a cynical approach.
That raises several important questions. Which authority actually authorised this loop belt, this additional belt for small children? On what basis, according to what technical standards did it do so? I am aware that authorisation has been granted for an expanding belt for corpulent persons, but so far as I know there is no authorisation for the additional belt for children. Lap-holding, which some airlines offer as an alternative, is a very old method. It was first recorded when planes in the 1920s still took off at about 65km/h. We should not and cannot wait that long.
I do not think we can leave this decision to the Member States, because we face tough competition in the aviation sector and of course the pressure of that competition produces the risk that we do not create the best safety system. We need a European solution. I ask you: when will we have it? Is there any chance of seeing it today and is there any chance that we will find a sensible solution for the transitional period?
Finally, millions were spent on ‘liquid on planes’ without serious debate. In the present case we must invest in the safety of children. We need to do so."@en1
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