Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-17-Speech-3-284"
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"en.20010117.9.3-284"2
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"Mr President, first of all I thank the rapporteur for her splendid work on behalf of us all and also thank Mr Vatanen for his contribution, speaking on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. I fully endorse many of the points he made, not least in respect of blood-alcohol limits. In fact there are only two points that I wish to make this evening. They relate to safer car fronts and the very important issue of blood alcohol.
On safer car fronts, I think it is worth pointing out how clearly the rapporteur has made the case for the Commissioner to come forward with a directive. In fact this Commissioner pledged to this House in January last year, a year ago, that we would have a directive on safer car fronts. A year on there is no directive. What we have in February is a hearing. More talk. No action. Meanwhile, two thousand people in the last year have needlessly, unnecessarily lost their lives because the Commission would rather talk than act. I hope tonight and tomorrow the Commission listens to the vote of this House and decides to proceed with its commitment to have a directive on safer car fronts. No more talk, please. Let us see some action.
And, indeed, the same is true for blood alcohol. We have had talk on this issue, year in, year out. We all know that ten thousand people a year in Europe are killed in drink-related crashes. We must tackle that particular problem. But I find it highly ironic, and I am sure the timing is not coincidental, that on the very day that we are debating blood alcohol, drink driving, road safety, the day before this Parliament is to vote on drink driving, the Commissioner has already made her mind up. She has issued a recommendation on drink driving. It would have been nice, would it not, for the Commissioner to have at least listened to the debate, learned what the outcome of the vote was tomorrow, before she decided to pre-empt the parliamentary procedures and issue this recommendation. We know a recommendation, alas, is simply not worth the paper it is written on. Member States need and support clear guidance. We believe it is time for the Commissioner to get tough on drunk drivers and drink driving, to come forward with a directive to reduce the limit to 50 mg.
In the United Kingdom, which has traditionally had a good record, we have sadly seen over the Christmas period a rise in the numbers of people drinking and driving. In my own region, in some parts of my region, 17% of drivers tested were above the UK legal limit of 80 mg. It is quite clear that we need action. Indeed the British government is asking for a solution at European level, in a European context. So all I make is a very simple request to the Commissioner tonight to listen to the debate and to heed the vote tomorrow."@en1
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