Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-05-18-Speech-2-560"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100518.36.2-560"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, honourable Members, like you, I am shocked, not only in my role as a Commissioner, but also as a citizen, when I see how nature is disrupted and destroyed in such cases for many years.
Ultimately, we will have to take the path that leads away from oil, but we will need decades to go down that path. All of us in politics and in society must take that path. On the way there, and in the meantime, we must check whether our safety standards and laws and guidelines and safety teams represent the highest level. We have put the relevant questions. In the autumn, when we know the causes, when we have the answers, when we have grilled our energy companies, we will be happy to give you more information. I believe that the energy companies are well aware of the seriousness of the situation.
I have one final point to make. There are already bases for liability for punitive damages. Incidentally, none of the parties involved in the United States disputes that. When it is clear who bears the guilt, the party in question will be liable and we can already see that this will amount to billions. In European environmental law, as well as in our national environmental regulations, the question of liability, of causing damage and of punitive damages is clear. This, too, will reinforce a precautionary approach when it comes to safety.
I assume that, in a few weeks, we will know whether we in Europe have any legal or technical need to act, and we will then be happy to report back to Parliament again. Your words also show how important it is to you, across all the parties, to act in a foresighted and precautionary way on this subject rather than to react afterwards once a disaster has already occurred. That is how we work in the Commission.
Although we are shocked, we must still remain calm and level-headed, as frenetic activity and hysteria would be out of place here. The exact cause of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico is still unknown. Was it the technology that failed? Was it human error? I have confidence in the US Government and public to seek an explanation with the same thoroughness as exists in our interest in explaining the causes here in Europe.
I also believe that the population of the United States of America expects, with the same shock and thoroughness, that lessons will be learned. In that regard, I have confidence in the United States as an industrialised nation, in its technical skills and in its democracy.
As a second point, we must move away from oil. It is clear, however, that we have been going down the oil route for generations and this applies to the industrialised nations of Europe in particular. Our citizens have far in excess of 200 million cars – and you and I all drive them. I drive a lot, and I also fly a lot for business purposes. At the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people will be flying south once again, and spending their Whit break in Mallorca. When it comes to Greece and Spain, people say that only tourism can solve the economic crisis, and that means more flights to Athens, to Palma, to Marbella and to other destinations. We consume oil – all of us, you and I. It seems to me that even this august Chamber, this honourable House, is not exactly constructed in an energy friendly way. There are more neon lamps than MEPs here tonight. It is because of all that that I believe that we simply have to be aware that we still need many years of major oil consumption but that we must nevertheless be fully ambitious as we walk the path away from oil: 20% renewable energy sources in 10 years’ time.
We are a preparing a ‘Roadmap 2050’ and we will present the various alternatives to you in the course of the year. Expert opinions say that, in four decades, we can obtain 80% of our energy needs from sources other than fossil fuels and thus other than oil. Electromobility represents an option here, but the majority of vehicles will still not be electrically powered for many years and will instead be powered by oil in the form of diesel and petrol.
It is clear that drilling for oil in the North Sea or the Gulf of Mexico represents an attempt to reduce dependence on a number of countries. Without this, without our own deposits, our dependence on the OPEC States and on countries that are not always characterised by democracy would be even greater than it is.
There is one crucial difference though: in the North Sea, drilling takes place to around 150 to 200 metres, whereas in the Gulf of Mexico, the depth is 3 000 to as far as 4 000 metres, with far inferior opportunities to guarantee safety. Depths of 150 and 200 metres can be reached with manned submarines. In the Gulf of Mexico, human beings are, in principle, far away from the source of danger, far away from the technical safety provided.
I also have confidence in our Member States. We have every reason to have confidence in our national authorities and our technical teams in the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway and Denmark. Also, in the partnership which currently exists between the European Union and our authority (the European Maritime Safety Agency – EMSA) and the national safety teams, we have an excellent, high level of cooperative safety between the European Union and those of our Member States that are bordering countries.
In the case of Nord Stream, too, we naturally had to examine the issue of safety. This involved complicated safety and approval processes that were all carried out, and I want to make clear that Nord Stream will probably be the most modern and the safest gas pipeline in the world. Here, too, there is one crucial difference: if there were ever a problem in the gas pipeline, the gas could be stopped at the source or at the coast. Nord Stream is not comparable with what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples