Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-09-06-Speech-3-366"
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"en.20000906.14.3-366"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to congratulate Mrs Lucas on the report that is the basis for our debate today. As we are all aware, the environmental consequences of air transport have recently attracted a great deal of interest.
On many occasions, we have indicated our preference for an international solution to these problems, and the Commission has noted with satisfaction the positive development of the United States' stance in relation to the standardisation process that is taking place in the ICAO. I have to say that the legislation on the so-called “hushkits”, with regard to the noisiest aircraft, adopted in its day by Parliament, the Council and the Commission, was based precisely on the fact that the United States had adopted unilateral measures outside the ICAO. There is no doubt that it is within the ICAO that this work needs to be done.
We shall coordinate the actions of the various Member States within the CAEP, given that it is the Member States that are the signatories of the ICAO, and I hope that Parliament will support initiatives such as the single sky, to which Mr Ojeda referred, which, naturally, will also have consequences for kerosene saving, if it can be implemented, and the improvement in the allocation and general management of slots.
Mr President, once again I thank everyone for the work carried out in trying to obtain a realistic and flexible text that is acceptable to the various parties. We await Parliament's vote, to which the Commission will pay great attention.
At local level, the debates surrounding airport development are increasingly determined by environmental considerations relating to noise abatement and air quality improvement in areas surrounding airports. Many citizens living in these areas believe that much more could be done to improve their situation and that is what they are demanding. Furthermore, the long-term impact of gases from air transport on climate change is undoubtedly a cause of concern in the world today, as is the impact of other types of emissions.
The air transport system must therefore be handled globally and coherently, from an environmental point of view, that is, we must also take account of aspects relating to the activity of air transport.
We must try to reconcile interests that are not always easy to reconcile as air transport undoubtedly involves economic interests that are characterised by high investment costs which require a long life span before they are paid off. For example, an aircraft requires a much longer life span than other types of investment in order to be adequately paid off. This requires a stable operating environment with no ups and downs or modifications that change the rules of the game and may have disastrous economic consequences for the functioning of aviation companies.
A sector based on extremely expensive technology, with a rapid rate of growth, has an immediate effect on employment in ancillary sectors, such as research, industry and tourism. In my opinion, trying to safeguard the environment by simply slowing down growth in the aeronautical sector and the air industry is not a valid option. But there is no doubt that the public, not only people in the surrounding area who suffer most directly from certain types of pollution such as noise or even emissions, but the public in general, who want sustainable development and quality of life, has a right to demand action from us to guarantee this type of growth that should be the European model.
In its communication on air transport and the environment, the Commission maintains that the aviation industry needs to increase its efforts to improve the environmental quality of new aircraft being built. If the current rate of growth is maintained, the improvements needed to compensate for the anticipated environmental impact of the increase in air traffic will not be made. I know this message is not well received in many parts of the sector but, without a doubt, in the medium and long term there is no solution but to look for an alternative unless we want air transport to become a victim of its own success.
The Commission, however, is aware that the air transport sector is correct in saying that before carrying out environmental measures, a serious in-depth study must be done on the economic and social repercussions that these measures will have. I have the impression that today, those most concerned by the environment are accepting, little by little, but more and more, the fact that in order to develop a definite environmental policy, account must be taken of the balance between the cost and effectiveness of the measures proposed.
The report we have before us considers these fundamental issues and takes account of both the need to reinforce environmental protection beyond routine efforts and the profitability analysis factor. I would like to thank Mrs Lucas for the efforts made to achieve flexibility, as it is clear from her amendments that this is not exactly what she would like as a report, but she is looking for a compromise that makes parliamentary approval possible. For example, what she says on kerosene seems to me to be a reasonable way of presenting this problem, which undoubtedly cannot be solved at European level, but at world-wide level and by the ICAO.
For it is in aviation, ladies and gentlemen, the industry in which globalisation is more evident than in any other, that these issues must be resolved. I would like to thank the rapporteur for the support she gives the Commission in the report, and say that we find ourselves at a difficult stage of the debate on new noise standards and on legislation which gradually eliminates the noisiest aircraft, within the framework of the ICAO."@en1
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