Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-05-Speech-3-117"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000705.4.3-117"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the three key factors which typify the transport of people and goods in terms of competition are price, reliability and speed. It is possible that the railway industry has not been quite up to scratch because, for the time being, it has largely lost the competitive battle to road transport and aviation. This is why it is sensible to find out how the railway industry could function better and how its market share in Europe can grow.
I can think of different ways to achieve this. French rail is currently expanding considerably, with growing employment, by doing the exact opposite of what Mr Jarzembowski proposes in his report.
Accordingly, the root of the problem is different from how the rapporteur sees it. The real problem is that politicians have for years neglected the railway industry, mainly because they considered it to be a crumbling vestige of the 19th century which would not make it into the 21st century anyway. All new investments were poured into a dense network of motorways and increasingly large airports.
Only when the environmental consequences of this policy became apparent did attention shift back to the railways. But at that time, the concept that freedom for the economy was more important than democratic input in politics had already taken hold. Politicians no longer wanted that input in public enterprises and, with it, shirked the responsibility of acting as inspector on behalf of the consumer and as guardian of employment.
Public enterprises started to shape up as private companies, increasingly so, where growth, profit and market value were considered more important than the social consequences of their actions.
Taking care of public transport and the environment should be of concern to all of us, including therefore our democratically elected government. Whether or not it is judicious to separate infrastructure from the operation of the railway industry is to be decided by the national or regional governments and is not a task of the European Union. And it is certainly not up to the European Union to implement forced privatisation of urban or regional transport companies, as is in danger of happening in the short term.
For my Group, these considerations are sufficient to reject Mr Jarzembowski’s proposals out of hand and to express the hope that they could never be translated into policy."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples