Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-25-Speech-3-187"
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"en.20020925.8.3-187"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, I am pleased to be able to speak on behalf of the Commission about a proposal that will help the European Community to switch to using petrol and diesel fuel with a sulphur content of no more than 10 milligrams per kilogram. This will remove the technical barriers that hitherto have prevented us from using the most fuel-efficient vehicles possible. In addition, the use of fuels according to the new requirements in old cars will reduce normal levels of emissions of impurities and improve air quality.
Parliament in the first reading made its contribution with the amendments it tabled to the notion that the switch to fuel containing 10 milligrams per kilogram should be made more swiftly than was originally sketched out. It is most gratifying that the rapporteur, the committee and the Council seem to be unanimous on many of the points connected with this issue. The Commission is hopeful that the questions that still remain open can be resolved reasonably quickly. Next I would like to look at some key questions the proposed amendments deal with.
In several amendments it is being proposed that the date from which all diesel fuels on the market must contain no more than 10 milligrams of sulphur per kilogram should now be fixed at 1 January 2009, instead of the date not being confirmed until the end of 2005 when the review has taken place. The Commission would have rather kept to the option contained in the original proposal and the Council common position, which would still have meant the date for diesel fuel would have been confirmed later. However, in view of the consensus reached on establishing the timetable, the Commission is prepared to be flexible in this and accept Amendment No 2 in its entirety and that part of Amendment No 11 that deals with the review in respect of diesel fuel.
Another question concerns the market coverage of petrol and diesel containing a maximum of 10 milligrams per kilogram between 2005 and 2009. In this respect the Commission is willing to try and draft guidelines on availability criteria in respect of these types of fuel for the first stage, even though this is now shorter than what was originally planned. Consequently, the Commission accepts Amendment Nos 4 and 7.
Some amendments concern the need to improve and harmonise the quality of fuel used in non-road mobile machinery throughout the Community. It is true that the relative significance of these types of emissions increases as the properties of road vehicle engines improve in environmental terms. Work connected with the next stage of emission norms for diesel engines used in off-road mobile machinery is at present under way and progressing well. When it is concluded at the end of this year the quality of fuel governed by such norms will be determined and a timetable to make this fuel available set. Before that happens the Commission cannot accept Amendment Nos 3, 10 and 13.
The Commission would be happy to take a closer look at the question of alternative fuel and biofuels, and particularly the question of requirements relating to the volatility of certain biofuel and petrol blends. Consequently, the Commission in principle accepts Amendment No 12.
Of the remaining amendments, the Commission cannot accept Amendment Nos 1, 5, 6, 8 and 9 or that section of Amendment No 11 that concerns matters to be included in the review, as the Commission considers the common position has taken them sufficiently into account.
Mr President, I would finally like to say that Parliament has, for its part, significantly improved the proposal under discussion. I therefore want to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Heidi Hautala, for the work she has done."@en1
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