Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-10-Speech-2-035"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20090310.6.2-035"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs |
substitute; Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (2007-05-23--2009-07-13)3,3
|
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be voting on the directive on the prevention of industrial emissions. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted a series of compromises by a large majority. I hope that we can hold that course, as these rules will harmonise the environmental requirements for industrial installations across the EU. Doing so improves the protection of the environment whilst, at the same time, ensuring fair competition.
The same applies to power generation from waste gases in steel production. This process is very efficient and produces energy from an otherwise useless by-product. The marginal reduction in the emission of pollutants that was desired could only be achieved with a large degree of financial expenditure. This was about keeping things in proportion.
I find the behaviour of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, in pulling out of the compromise and going through the entire report again, scattering amendments everywhere, distressing and regrettable. Such an approach is not constructive. Reaching political decisions requires at least a minimum level of mutual reliance and working together. I can understand that members of the PPE-DE Group might not be completely satisfied with the various compromises. All I can say, in that regard, is that I would have been very happy to have discussed their proposals, but at no time during the compromise negotiations with the shadow rapporteurs were such proposals put forward. Their uncoordinated last-minute actions mean that there is now a danger that exactly the opposite will be achieved – sound and correct proposals are being jeopardised.
I would like, at this point, to offer my sincere thanks to the other shadow rapporteurs, in particular, Mr Turmes, Mr Hegyi and Mr Blokland, who were reliable partners in negotiation despite differences in substance.
We have an opportunity here, today, to send a signal for both better environmental protection and fair competition. I hope that we will use that opportunity for a plan that is supported by major economic and environmental groups. Please support the compromises! Thank you.
At the heart of the compromises is the European safety network. This concept introduces Community-wide limit values for pollutant emissions by industry. These define clear requirements for the licensing of industrial installations. In order to obtain a permit, they must be better than the specification from the safety network. This approach allows sufficient room to manoeuvre to set individual requirements. What it certainly means, however, is the end of the opportunity to abuse that room to manoeuvre and operate installations with poor emissions ratings via derogations. With the safety network, we will achieve clarity together with the necessary flexibility. There will be absolutely no need for stretchable derogations that are open to interpretation.
When I made this proposal, I was accused of being a ‘green activist’. That – and I will put this somewhat carefully – is an exaggeration. This is about improving the implementation of EU rules that have been in force for years. Best available technique – which is what the European safety network is aimed at – should have been standard in all industrial plants in the EU since last autumn, yet that is still far from the reality. Best available technique is currently seeing judicious use in three Member States.
Oxides of nitrogen and sulphur are some of the primary issues in industrial environmental pollution. There is potential here for a reduction of 60% to 80% if the best available techniques are consistently applied. Those are the European Environment Agency’s figures. This technique is not science fiction. It is not something from the laboratory, it is not at the laboratory stage, it is available, it is affordable and it works. Despite that, many Member States are saving themselves the effort, because there is good money to be had even in pollution-spewing installations. Some Member States have been simply overlooking the need to invest in modernising their plants for years. That distorts competition and damages the environment and I am therefore arguing for a new approach for the improved implementation of best available techniques.
The compromise packages will also reduce expenditure on bureaucracy, which only costs money and does nothing to help the environment. We are therefore linking the number of reports that plant operators have to send to the authorities to the risk posed by their plants and to whether the operators meet the requirements imposed on them. The same applies to inspections by the authorities. Where there may be danger, a closer look should be taken. Where nothing happens, there is no need for constant monitoring.
For many in this Chamber, soil protection is a sore point. A constructive debate on this topic is, unfortunately, clearly no longer possible, although it was possible to reach compromises. They reduce the soil status report to the essentials – the status report need not be comprehensive and need not always be carried out. Instead, we are concentrating on the actual risk posed by a given plant. Analyses are required where relevant quantities of hazardous substances are actually handled.
Furthermore, the clean-up of sites to their original condition is unrealistic, for which reason the compromise now talks of clean-up to a satisfactory condition. That does not change my own personal view that soil protection is not an area that should be regulated at EU level. It would be better left to the Member States.
IPPC affects almost all sectors of industry. That being the case, there has been very intensive lobbying over recent days. In some areas, improvements on the original compromises were actually necessary, one example being in relation to agriculture. The calculation of threshold values for poultry farms is too bureaucratic. Instead of differentiating by species between turkeys, ducks and broiler chickens, we should keep the threshold of 40 000 places for poultry.
The production of natural manure, liquid manure and slurry, furthermore, is not something that belongs within the scope of this directive. The subject is relevant, regulation serves a purpose, but please, not in this legal act. A farmer’s field is no industrial plant. Farmers have many more items on their wish lists, and the decision about these two points is appropriate. I therefore went to some lengths to get the agreement of the shadow rapporteurs on this point."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples