Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-15-Speech-2-054-000"
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"en.20110215.4.2-054-000"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the negotiation that I led by myself for the first year and then, during conciliation – the first conciliation procedure after the Treaty of Lisbon, I would note – with the guidance of Mrs Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou and the support of the Chair of the Committee on Transport and Tourism, Mr Simpson, has been more arduous and difficult than expected.
The main problems were primarily encountered in defining the scope of application. In fact, the regulation applies to all regular services, whether regional, national or international, over a distance greater than 250 km. In any case, we have prepared a list of fundamental rights that cannot be ignored, irrespective of such a distance. These rights focus principally on the right to transport, as well as training, information and responsibility.
At distances of over 250 km, the regulation essentially provides for compensation and assistance in the event of an accident, the rights of passengers in the event of cancellation or delay, and the rights of persons with disabilities or persons with reduced mobility. Furthermore, with regard to complaints, the carriers must set up and activate a system for dealing with complaints relating to the rights and obligations referred to in this regulation. The time needed to provide a definitive response cannot be more than three months from receipt of the complaint.
Lastly, each Member State must designate a new body or, better still, an existing body, responsible for enforcing this regulation. The Member States will be able to avoid implementing the regulation for a period of four years, which can be renewed once upon prior notification to the Commission of the reasons for this.
Member States are also asked and urged to develop a future single ticket for each transport type and a single national body responsible for passengers’ rights in all means of transport. The final text can be deemed a pleasing and balanced compromise. The outcome of the conciliation procedure must be seen as a victory for Parliament.
Through this regulation, Europe’s 70 million bus and coach passengers will also enjoy a range of rights that until now were much reduced or almost non-existent in comparison with other means of transport.
During negotiations on this important issue with three rotating presidencies, the goals we wanted to fulfil were as follows:
a regulation that would protect non-discriminatory access to transport by bus and coach;
a regulation that would bear in mind the particular characteristics of the sector, which involves small and medium-sized enterprises which could not have additional and excessive economic burdens imposed upon them;
a regulation that would fill a regulatory vacuum that left the bus and coach transport sector in an anomalous position compared with other means of transport and would therefore ensure minimal guarantees for all passengers;
a regulation that would protect the rights of persons with reduced mobility as much as possible, given the intransigent attitudes within the Council;
a regulation that would bear in mind the needs of an ageing population for whom public transport will be an essential resource in the coming decades.
The text voted on today is the fruit of a very hard-fought compromise, but one which pleases us given the direction taken in the debate and in the negotiation itself."@en1
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