Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-02-Speech-4-024"
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"en.20090402.6.4-024"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen and guests, I would first like to apologise for not arriving on time and to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak immediately after the first round of party speeches.
I very much appreciate this discussion because the speeches that have been made so far value clearly the work of the rapporteurs, the Commission and the Council. It seems that there is a consensus in principle over the two proposals we are expecting in the first reading and I am delighted about that. These proposals form part of the Community’s sixth action programme and the attached package as published by the Commission in July 2008. It emerges very clearly from this proposed action plan that there is a need to change behaviour patterns, consumption patterns and production patterns and that our methods of production and consumption are unsustainable. We are damaging the climate, we are damaging human health and we are using up natural resources in an unsustainable way.
This matter is one of the priorities of the Czech Presidency and I firmly believe that through the approval and revision of the existing regulations on eco-labelling and on EMAS we will largely manage to deal with this priority. I would like to thank the European Commission and the Member States for their work on these regulations and I would also like to express my thanks for the major work carried out by the European Parliament, by rapporteur Linda McAvan on behalf of EMAS and the rapporteur Salvatore Tatarella on the Ecolabel and everyone else taking part in this work.
As far as ecolabelling is concerned, a compromise text has been produced thanks to the combined work of the Council and Parliament together with the Commission, and this text improves the voluntary system for product labelling, particularly by simplifying the system for granting eco-labels. It is very important that the Ecolabel should now be more attractive to consumers. We are making it possible to extend the system to other products and we have also succeeded in solving a problem relating to the potential labelling of food products, thanks to which consumers will have the possibility to consider and take into account the impact of products or services on the environment when making purchasing choices and this is very important.
As far as the compromise text applying to EMAS is concerned, it will enable even higher visibility for organisations joining the system voluntarily, thereby increasing its attractiveness. In my opinion it is very important to reduce the administrative burden for large, small and medium-sized companies. There was considerable debate about the costs of this system and I think we have found a sensible compromise at a minimal cost which will still cover the transaction costs for introducing these labels.
In my opinion it is important to emphasise that the revised EMAS system is also open to organisations outside the European Union. This in turn should give the system greater authority by encouraging application on a broader, more global scale.
I firmly believe that the approval of these regulations will be a real benefit for European countries and that it will create new opportunities that are relevant to the current crisis and to resolving the greatest global environmental problem, which is global climate change.
I would like once again to thank the European Parliament, the rapporteurs and MEPs for their productive cooperation on the compromise and I look forward to continuing this debate."@en1
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