Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-02-Speech-1-128"
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"en.20001002.9.1-128"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, firstly credit must go to Mr Hatzidakis for his proactive approach in his report. European bus measurements may seem a trivial matter, but it is no such thing. Our objective of a dynamic single market can only come about if all players comply with the same regulations. Competition, which is a prime mover in the arena of real development, will begin when transport companies can offer cross-border services. There are no Greek bus companies in our country, Finland, but the Scots have already got a firm foothold. Stinginess pays off.
In order to continue the positive spread of competition we must harmonise bus standards. Uniform measurements will also mean cost saving for manufacturers, which will be reflected in fares and the pockets of EU citizens. The present directive is inadequate because it leads to too much diversity with regard to buses in the various Member States, which will make the drafting of safety standards difficult. The tragic news from Greece recently unquestionably obliges us to address the matter of creating and complying with safety regulations.
The Commission is right in its proposal to allow 15-metre buses. The more people there are on the bus, the cheaper it will be to travel, to say nothing of the atmosphere that increases exponentially as the number of passengers grows. The use of long buses is furthermore recommended for environmental reasons. If we support group travel it will reduce congestion in built-up areas. A few half-empty cars take up the space of one bus carrying sixty people.
The rapporteur, Mr Hatzidakis, is right that it would be unfair to call for the transition period with regard to buses already in operation in domestic traffic to end by 2009. People will not feel favourably disposed towards the EU if we start scrapping buses that are still in perfectly good condition, before their time. At the same time we would easily destroy the belief the entrepreneur and the man in the street have in the common sense of EU decision-makers."@en1
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