Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-01-17-Speech-3-298"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010117.9.3-298"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, I would firstly like to congratulate Mrs Hedkvist Petersen wholeheartedly on the very thorough motion for a resolution which she has prepared on road safety. This demonstrates the European Parliament’s interest – which we have seen today in your speeches – in creating an ambitious policy for combating the scourge of traffic accidents. I would also like to express my gratitude to all of you who have spoken, who have given voice to your opinions and who have enriched this debate.
In saying this I wish to point out that we have by no means rejected the idea of creating a regulation in relation to front sections of cars which are more respectful when it comes to accidents involving people – unprotected bodies – but that we simply wish to be even more effective by gaining the support of the automobile sector.
With regard to the future action programme for 2002-2010, we are
open to all the ideas included in the motion for a resolution. I am even prepared to reconsider the issue of the level of 0.5. I am not going to maintain rigid positions on this issue. I do not believe that that is the main problem. The problem of control is much more important. In any event, I am counting on your cooperation, your help and your support, and I congratulate the rapporteur once again.
In response to the European Parliament’s request, I would remind you that last March the Commission presented a communication on road safety which listed a series of concrete measures to be implemented over the next few years, specifically the last two years of implementation of the second action programme on road safety.
I would like to stress that, in general, I am in complete agreement with the contents of the report and also with what the resolution itself says, both with regard to the action programme under way, whose implementation will soon be completed, and with regard to the future road safety programme which the Commission intends to present in the next few months.
I also wish the European Union to have an effective and lasting policy for reducing the number of accidents, which is currently completely unacceptable. In the first stage we will have to implement the final priority measures established within the framework of the road safety programme, which is currently under way and, in particular, propose that the obligation to install speed-limiting devices be applicable to a greater number of lorries, specifically by lowering the tonnage above which such a measure is required. Furthermore, we will have to promote the exchange of information on black spots and the techniques for reducing them and, in general, to increase the safety of road infrastructures and adopt measures to improve the car fronts in the event of collision with vulnerable users of the road network. These road improvements must include a different design for current crash barriers, which are enormously unfriendly to cyclists and motorcyclists.
The second stage must include the adoption of a more systematic approach with regard to the future action programme, for which we must establish quantifiable objectives on a European scale, which will be drawn up with the cooperation of the Member States, in order to achieve greater efficiency and complementarity between the measures adopted in Brussels and those established on a national level. Because it is clear that the establishment of specific objectives – as we have seen in those countries which have adopted them – provides a stimulus and has the effect of a psychological incentive on the authorities, which leads to them exercising better control and therefore to a reduction in accidents.
Nevertheless, I do not intend today to deal with the aspects on which we agree – you know these from the communication – but I would like to expand a little more on the reasons for the two points of disagreement. The first is drink-driving. Ladies and gentlemen, you are absolutely right. Yesterday or the day before, the written procedure on the recommendation for 0.5 to be the maximum limit for alcohol in the blood was finally adopted by the Commission. The date is purely coincidental. It was in the communication in March. You must not believe that there has been any manoeuvring by anyone. I thought that this was at a more advanced stage. I am sorry. Please do not imagine that the date has been in any way chosen to coincide with this debate. But I would like to explain why no proposal for a directive is being presented. This is not being done for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, I must say that the United Kingdom, one of the countries where the alcohol limit is greater than the 0.5 which we recommend –as Mr Watts mentioned a moment ago – is the country with the second lowest number of accidents in the European Union after Sweden. If Great Britain had a limit of 0.2 instead of 0.8 it would probably be the country with the lowest number rather than the second lowest and would have far fewer accidents. I do not know. What I mean to point out is that it is a fact, an objective fact, that Great Britain, with a limit of 0.8, is the country with the second lowest number of accidents in the Union.
I am not recommending 0.8 but 0.5. It is not enough to recommend or to lay down that an alcohol limit be respected if the national authorities then fail to adequately control the reality of that alcohol content in drivers’ blood. I would like to say to you that if some Member States do not currently control the alcohol content in blood, I doubt that we will have better results just because we have reduced it to 0.5. What we need is better control on the part of the authorities.
Secondly, there are customs, habits and reasons why I feel that this is the classic type of issue which should be left to subsidiarity, and that is why we are only recommending the level of 0.5. I know that you have a different opinion – I have seen it – and, of course, the truth is that, furthermore, there has not so far been a sufficient majority in the Council to move forward with an initiative of this type. If, suddenly, all the Member States agree, it will be very easy for them, amongst other things, to implement a level of 0.5 in their countries. Do not tell me that the United Kingdom wants a European directive to resolve a problem in Great Britain because I would not believe it. Then let them implement 0.5 in the United Kingdom. Why do we have to force them to do so? If the United Kingdom wants to do it and we already have a recommendation, let them comply with it.
With regard to car fronts, I clearly heard Mr Watts’s criticism that the Commission prefers to speak and not to act. I cannot accept that criticism. The Commission wishes to act in the most effective way and, sometimes, delaying an initiative for a few months can, in reality, be a much quicker way to ensure that it is implemented. And we have given the automobile industries six months to reach an agreement. They do not have until 2002, Mr Watts, but until June 2001. In this respect, I would like to tell you that this initiative is not only my responsibility but it is also the responsibility of the Commissioner for Industry, Mr Liikanen, and that is what we agreed."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples