Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-264"
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"en.20010613.10.3-264"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, we are so dependent nowadays on oil as a source of energy that, if it were to stop suddenly, almost everything would grind to a halt. For example, can you imagine life with no aeroplanes and no cars?
The Commission communication on Europe's oil supply, which is exceptionally important in content and most daring in form, Mr Linkohr's report on it, the opinions of the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, the Committee on the Environment, Public Heath and Consumer Policy and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, which has done me the honour of appointing me as draftsman, are clear and, to a greater or lesser extent, all come to a number of revealing conclusions.
First, at current rates, the worldwide consumption of oil will rise from 77 million barrels a day in 2000 to 115 million barrels in 20 years, i.e. it will almost double. Secondly, specialists forecast that the maximum [output] will not exceed 90 million barrels a day and that the number of new fields discovered will continue to dwindle. Thirdly, Europe is totally dependent on oil imports. The present figure is 75% and it is expected to top 85% in 2020. Fourthly, the price of crude oil is expected to remain high, at least 22 to 28 dollars a barrel, and will most probably continue to rise. I this is combined with the high value of the dollar, the cost will inevitably rise, making European products less competitive, due to the high rate of tax on petroleum products in the European Union. This, of course, will exacerbate inflationary pressures. Fifthly, huge numbers of people die in road traffic accidents, almost as many as the number of people who die in major wars. Sixthly, 70% – I repeat 70% – of the atmospheric pollution of our planet is due to transport and only 7% is due to industry and we should refrain from misleading criticism which only targets industrial pollution, given that cars and aeroplanes cause most of the pollution on our planet.
As I have checked and there is still time, I should like to finish my point because I think that this is an important issue. Oil is, however, a valuable commodity in other important sectors, such as the pharmaceutical industry. Consequently, as it is a non-renewable source of energy, we should not waste it. If all this is true, and this is what the Commission report tells us, then what we need to do is obvious, but it is also extremely difficult. In the long term, we – and the European Union in particular – must look for alternative sources of energy, such as natural gas, hydrocarbons, of which there is an abundance on our planet, nuclear energy – concentrating on nuclear fusion – and of course, sustainable sources, of which solar energy is the most important.
In the short term, and I am almost finished, the European Union must look for oil and natural gas from several geographical sources, especially in the Caucasus. We also need to try and reach an agreement with OPEC on more stable prices and payment in euros rather than dollars and, at the same time, to increase our safety stocks."@en1
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