Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-06-07-Speech-2-098-000"
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"en.20110607.7.2-098-000"2
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"Mr President, it is no coincidence that Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other countries are all reluctant to accept the so-called Eurovignette.
This common critical stance stems from our position as peripheral countries since, at the end of the day, it will be us who will pay this quite singular levy and the Member States enjoying a geographical location in the centre of the European Union who will collect it.
The reasoning that underlies the Eurovignette is beset by major contradictions and the discourse that supports it becomes weaker every day. Even accepting the rationality of internalising external costs as a valid starting point, it is ultimately untenable to penalise heavy goods vehicles only and not ordinary cars with the aim of mitigating traffic congestion, just as the old ‘polluter pays’ principle is applied in a clearly discriminatory way.
In addition to this, ladies and gentlemen, only 15% of the funds collected through the Eurovignette – which was conceived as a funding source for infrastructures – will finally be used to fund trans-European networks, and not as a requirement but merely as a recommendation. Thus, finance ministries will allocate the funds as they see fit according to the interests of their countries, within the wide sphere of infrastructures. The ultimate result will be yet another setback for road freight transport, which, the way things stand today, is the only means enabling the operation of the Internal Market.
This is reality, ladies and gentlemen, a reality that is a lot starker in the context of an economic crisis. If European products are to be competitive in global markets, we cannot afford experiments that may result in even further damage to an already weak European economy by imposing yet more additional costs.
Lastly, the food crisis, which has recklessly been blamed on Spanish products, has led to unfair penalties and huge losses for those penalised by the Eurovignette: freight carriers and prime crop farmers.
It is for all these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, that the Spanish delegation of the European People’s Party shall vote against this draft directive."@en1
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