Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-21-Speech-2-484"
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"en.20081021.44.2-484"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, just this morning President Sarkozy spoke in this House about the difference between protectionism and intelligent market intervention. If we add to that the countless instances in which European industry is overlburdened with rules and restrictions which, while necessary, make it less competitive, we can easily understand the reason for praising and voting in favour of the proposal currently under discussion.
It is well-known that the European Union has various instruments with which to achieve the proposed ‘three times twenty’ targets: one of the most common approaches is to require European industries to comply with environmental and emission control criteria; an alternative, which is what we are discussing today, is to suggest that public authorities should act as market catalysts. This makes total sense. Encouraging major public buyers to drive the markets and create a demand for clean and energy-efficient vehicles, the production of which may be more costly but is certainly environmentally positive, is a way of intervening in the market which is legitimate, appropriate and defensible.
Clearly this intervention cannot occur in a manner contrary to the interests of taxpayers. However, these interests must be measured in terms of both the immediate costs and the potential environmental benefits brought to citizens’ daily lives. Under the commitment being debated today, public authorities shall, when purchasing their road transport fleets, be required to calculate not only the purchase price but also the vehicles’ lifetime costs in terms of fuel, CO
emissions and air pollution. Ultimately, these costs must be used as a procurement criterion.
Public authorities shall therefore have the opportunity in the future to set an example and act as a catalyst for the automobile sector so that the latter develops and invests in the production of environmental vehicles with ever-decreasing CO
and pollutant emissions. Finally, I congratulate Mr Jørgensen and the draftsmen, whose work has enabled this document to be debated today, in the expectation that it will actually help to change habits with positive consequences for the sustainable future of our societies."@en1
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