Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-13-Speech-1-090"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020513.7.1-090"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – Mr President, last November the Commission addressed two documents to the European Parliament and the other institutions: one about the economic perspectives of European tourism after the events of 11 September, and the other, a Communication on “Working together for the future of European Tourism”.
On the other hand, the annual forum meetings, which will start in December, will be open to the public.
Finally, I would like to mention that the informal ministerial meeting organised by the Spanish presidency in Santander on 4 May was followed the day after by a seminar attended by major public and private stakeholders.
The event showed that the proposed actions in our Communication are in line with the priorities of Member States and of the other stakeholders.
It is very encouraging to note the attention the European Parliament continues to give to tourism and that it agrees largely with us. This will facilitate our work in attaining the objectives described in the Communication, and in implementing these and other actions which could promote sustainable and competitive tourism in Europe.
In conclusion, although many of you favour a more ambitious approach, I consider that this process has been particularly successful. The merit of the Communication is that, for the first time for nearly ten years, it has attracted strong support from all Community Institutions for tourism-related activities. The recent meeting of tourism ministers at Santander has shown that we are truly engaged in working together for the future of European tourism.
The next important step in this cooperative approach in EU tourism issues will be the first European Tourism Forum that the Commission is organising with the industry and other stakeholders on 10 December this year, to which all the European private and public stakeholders, including representatives of the European Parliament, will be invited.
I thank you for this very constructive debate. I am sure that much work remains to be done to convince the European public and decision-makers of the vital role of tourism for employment and growth perspectives in our continent.
I also agree with those who said that the number of people employed in tourism makes it a core employment sector. Secondly, even though today the average figures are still around 7-8% of GDP, we have countries where tourism accounts for up to 12% of GDP, which shows its importance.
Tourism deserves our attention, and we must coordinate different policies as well as possible to promote the future prospects of European tourism.
On 19 February the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism, under the chairmanship of Mr Caveri, organised a public hearing on the future of European tourism, which was attended by the Commission and the Council.
I would like to thank Mr Caveri and the rapporteur, Mrs Torres Marques, for their active contribution, as well as the members of the committee for all their work and for the report tabled today. Various other committees gave their opinion. I should like to thank Mr Harbour, Mr De Clercq and Mr Graça Moura for their contributions. The Commission in general can go along with the draft report.
There are a limited number of issues that need particular attention and on which I would like to make some comments: first, the question of a stronger legal basis in the EC Treaty. In our view, the Treaty of the European Community, in particular Article 3.1(u) and Article 157, establishes a sufficient basis for the actions proposed in the Commission’s Communication.
After the ratification of the Nice Treaty, a qualified majority will be sufficient for supporting measures in the context of Article 157 of the Treaty to increase the competitiveness of European industry and, therefore, of tourism enterprises.
Secondly, the need for a better promotion of Europe as a tourism destination. The Commission agrees with the Parliament report that more should be done to promote Europe as a safe and attractive set of tourist destinations.
The Commission is regularly requested to examine this issue as well, and it agrees with the wording of the report and of the draft Council resolution that will be formally adopted on 21 May, in which it is emphasised that: "with a view to contributing to the improvement of the global image of the European Union in the world, consideration could be given to analysing the present image as well as to discussing the possibilities of improving it, for instance through the new information and communication technologies, through benchmarking of best practices or through the coordination of certain combined promotional activities by tourism authorities and/or industry, while ensuring that competition among Member States is not distorted".
Thirdly, as far as the opening of the Tourism Consultative Committee to the public is concerned, on the one hand, the Commission has already opened – and will keep open – several of the committee meetings to include the participation of industry and other stakeholders representatives.
However, the Consultative Committee on Tourism is a body established by a Council Decision in 1986. Members of this committee are designated by Member States, and the Commission chairs the meetings. It is true that in this Council Decision there is no basis for this and it will be difficult – unanimity is needed – to amend it, in order to open it to the public."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples