Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-05-Speech-4-160"
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"en.20001005.11.4-160"2
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"Mr President, as you are aware, Bavaria, more than any other German
has an extraordinary affinity with Greece. This had its effect in the 19th century, during the wars of liberation. The first Greek king was a Bavarian, and it also has its effect in the present day, in that a particularly large number of people from Bavaria go on holiday to this beautiful country. There are particularly large numbers of Bavarian tourists in Greece. Therefore it came as a double shock to us to have to see these terrible pictures and hear this dreadful news. It was a shock because families suffered so badly as a result, and because we mourn the loss of human life, but it was also a shock because it revealed a flagrant disregard for safety.
We must be aware that when something like this happens, the credibility of the European Union also comes into play. Time and again, we rightly complain that there is too much of a centralising drive in various areas. We criticise any attempts to formulate a common European tourism policy, which some people here want. That is something we can confidently leave to the Member States and regions. According to the principle of subsidiarity, tourism policy is something that should be devolved to Member State level. But what people in all countries must be able to depend on in equal measure, are safety standards. That is precisely why it is one of the European Union’s most important tasks to ensure that exceptions are no longer made where safety standards are concerned, as has obviously been the case here. We must be in no doubt that, particularly in an era of cross-border mass tourism, whether it be tunnels – where there was a spate of disasters last summer – or ships, which have been involved in a great many disasters in recent years, people expect to be able to depend on safety standards within the European Union. Human error happens all over the world. Greek sailors are excellent and famous for being of a high standard. But what we must realise is that when it comes to technical standards, there is, I am sorry to say, a degree of chaos in this region. This is the point at which the European Union and the European Parliament must take direct responsibility."@en1
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