Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-368"
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"en.20090422.55.3-368"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it always gives me pleasure to recall my many years in this House as an MEP, and this enables me to appreciate all the more the work that the European Parliament has done on this debate.
On 30 March 2009, alongside the debate on the Teychenné report in the Committee on Transport and Tourism, a public debate was held between ministers within the framework of the EU transport council. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to observe from this debate a certain amount of dovetailing between the Commission, Member States and Parliament as regards the aim of giving European passengers a new and ambitious regulation as soon as possible.
In this context, the Commission is of course prepared to make any clarifications and improvements to the text that may be required to take account of the particular characteristics of each type of service and thereby provide the industry with the tools to apply the regulation with the necessary flexibility. Allow me to emphasise again the need to provide the resources to implement the future regulation effectively. To this end, it is important that the national authorities responsible for its application submit periodic reports on their activities. Each Member State will be able to organise its own national system as it sees fit, for example by choosing whether to have one or more competent authorities.
That is why I would like to thank Mr Teychenné and Mr Albertini for the important contribution they are making to protect the rights of citizens as passengers in all transport sectors, because the need to intervene in the area of bus and coach transport and maritime transport represents an attempt to fill a gap that, as you have all pointed out, exists in European law.
We have many passengers with disabilities and many whose mobility is reduced for other reasons, and so we also have a duty to guarantee free movement, because first and foremost this is a question of freedom within the European Union. Of course, good law-making is not easy, but today we are taking a big step forward.
I was also pleased to hear what Mr Svoboda had to say. There are certainly still some doubts about the texts that the Commission and Parliament agree on adopting, but I also noted a general political openness on the part of the Council, which gives me hope for the future.
I am sure that, as was the case for road transport, we will come to a satisfactory compromise that guarantees European citizens the opportunity to travel freely and to be duly protected within the European Union.
So, I think that today we are discussing topics that affect the lives of all citizens, which is why I am persuaded that as far as the bus and coach proposal is concerned, support should be given – and the meeting of the Committee on Transport and Tourism of 30 March showed encouraging signs of this – to the Commission’s approach for the widest possible scope, covering all regular passenger transport services whether international, national, regional, urban or suburban. This responds to the need to simplify legislation, but also to guarantee equal rights for all passengers without exceptions of principle.
However, Mr Albertini, given the specific nature of this sector, the proposal leaves Member States the option of exempting urban, suburban and regional transport covered by public service contracts if these contracts offer passengers a high level of protection comparable with that laid down by the regulation. This seems to me to be a reasonable solution that offers the required level of flexibility while safeguarding passengers’ basic rights.
The liability of bus or coach companies vis-à-vis passengers in the event of death or injury represents another essential element of the proposal. There are too many disparities on this within the Community, which creates serious uncertainties for passengers. I would like to look at couple of points on this subject in more detail: firstly, this area does not deal with the issue of insurance, but is concerned exclusively with carriers’ liability towards passengers. Secondly, the bus or coach company is not deemed solely liable for compensation for damages and its right to claim compensation from third parties is not questioned. Thirdly, this area concerns neither imports nor the procedures set out in the 2005 directive on insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles; and fourthly, the Commission has not in fact developed a new liability model. What is being proposed today is a liability scheme that is inspired by other modes of transport, while taking account of the particular features of this sector.
As regards maritime transport, I believe that a single legislative instrument is needed, even if there are differences of opinion on this in both Parliament and the Council. Allow me to point out a key issue regarding scope: compared with road, rail and air transport, there are far fewer passengers who travel by sea or inland waterways. Among these, those who use inland waterways represent just a small minority. In my opinion, it seems neither logical nor realistic to have separate regulations for sea passengers and those who use inland waterways, even less so when one considers that they often use the same kind of vessel. I think that a single legislative instrument must be the answer."@en1
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