Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-15-Speech-1-085"
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"en.20000515.5.1-085"2
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"Mr President, I wish to express the heartfelt thanks of the Commission to Mr Rothley, the rapporteur, who has had a considerable intellectual and political input into this fourth motor insurance directive. Mr Rothley was extremely kind in thanking the Commission for what it has done. The Commission has perhaps been constructive in the formulation of this fourth motor insurance directive. However, as Mr Rothley said, it was in response to an initiative from the European Parliament. The Commission is duly thankful to him for that initiative.
I wish to say that the Commission welcomes the adoption of this fourth motor insurance directive by Parliament. As Mr Rothley pointed out, every year there are more than 500 000 car accidents involving vehicles from different Member States. However, the current system of compensation for people involved in an accident outside their home country does not work satisfactorily. The new directive will provide for improved information, easier procedures and quicker settlement of claims, and these are things which concern the citizens of all our Member States most directly. This is also a measure which will bring the European Union closer to the citizens of the Union.
As I have just said, the Commission's proposal was a response to a parliamentary resolution in which Parliament made use of its new powers under Article 192 of the Treaty on European Union. I should again like to thank Parliament explicitly and, of course, Mr Rothley, but also the competent committee and its chairperson, Mrs Palacio Vallelersundi, for the constructive discussions in the first and second readings of the directive and the subsequent negotiations in the course of informal trialogues.
Mr Rothley has announced a fifth directive. He said that there will shortly be a conference in Trier on that directive and he has asked the Commission to help steer it through its legislative process. Perhaps it is a bit early to discuss the fifth directive now but I should like to take this opportunity to assure Mr Rothley that in any further legislative work in which this Parliament would like to engage, the Commission will take the same constructive attitude as it took with the fourth directive.
Lastly, Mr Bigliardo draws attention to the fact that the premia for motor vehicle insurance in Italy vary from region to region, according to the number of accidents. He objects to that differentiation in premia according to the frequency of accidents in the various parts of Italy and he would like the Commission to intervene.
I have to tell Mr Bigliardo that this is a matter which does not concern this directive. Strictly speaking, I could end my response there but his comments deserve a fuller answer. Therefore, I should like to say that if the situation had been that motor insurance premia were different for Italian citizens as compared with French or German citizens living in Italy, the Commission would be able to object. You cannot ask French or German citizens living in Italy to pay a different premium from Italian citizens. That is a clear case of discrimination. But that is not the case. The premia differ according to the number of accidents in each region and are therefore the same for Italians and non-Italians. They relate to the different areas of Italy. I do not think that the Commission can intervene on that point. It is a matter of how insurance companies calculate their premia, and if there are objective reasons for charging a higher premium for a particular region then the Commission is powerless. If Mr Bigliardo would like to substantiate his claim in more detail, I should be pleased to receive his letter and answer it. But if he would like a straightforward answer now, then it has to be that the Commission cannot intervene."@en1
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