Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-321"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021217.12.2-321"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I would firstly like to thank the Commission for the great support that Parliament has received during a legislation process that has lasted two and a half years. I do not believe that the result we have now achieved would have come anywhere close to the success it is without that support, even though Parliament’s will has been unambiguous and unwavering the whole time.
The outcome of conciliation can be regarded as satisfactory as far as Parliament is concerned, as the minimum targets laid down in the Århus Convention are exceeded in all essential respects and an important step is being taken in the ratification of the Convention. The end result will be legislation that appears workable and balanced and which the various Member States, including the new ones, can, with moderate effort, make part of their national legislation and implement.
I warmly recommend the acceptance of this outcome of conciliation in tomorrow’s vote.
I myself have been a steadfast advocate of Parliament’s opinions, as in many ways we are dealing with matters that have to do with Parliament’s essential function. First of all, with this directive we are granting the public important new rights. Secondly, we are endorsing the principles of good administration and transparency. Thirdly, we are promoting sustainable development in the manner outlined at the Rio Summit. In addition, we are ensuring that our citizens have a healthy environment. It would be impossible to fit more central issues to the European Parliament than these into a single directive.
The exceptionally large number of differing opinions with regard to amendments was a special challenge during conciliation. Furthermore, we observed that the Council, once we had actually achieved conciliation, was not at all willing, according to the country holding the Presidency, to produce a directive. If Mr Florenz’s report can be considered a great victory for Parliament in terms of its content, this directive of mine is one of Parliament’s greatest victories for the very reason that we were able to achieve a positive solution in spite of the Council digging its heels in. This is not just any solution, either. This is a directive that represents Parliament’s opinion in a significant way and one that meets the minimum requirements of the Århus Convention fully and even goes beyond them.
The most important details of the outcome of conciliation are those that relate to exceptional circumstances. As a result of conciliation the opportunities to resort to these are limited, meaning real transparency can be achieved. In addition, the authorities will be obliged to adhere to the practice whereby the benefit obtained by making an exception is weighed against that achieved by making it public, on a case-by-case basis. Information on emissions into the environment must always be disclosed even in exceptional circumstances except on grounds relating to defence, safeguarding the course of justice, or industrial or intellectual property rights.
Another important outcome of the negotiations concerns payments. The directive mentions the principle of providing information free of charge as a general practice and particularly when it is a matter of examining information
or using public registers and lists. When charges do apply they must be reasonable and must not exceed the costs incurred in providing the material in question.
A third important outcome of the negotiations is that a special new section on the requirements for the quality of environmental information was approved for the directive. Member States must ensure that the information is up to date, accurate, and, above all, capable of being used for comparisons. With regard to emissions, measurement procedures must also be disclosed so that comparisons can be made. The quality of information is especially important now that the availability of information is being granted as a right to a wide public, and one, therefore, that is unfamiliar with that specific subject. Experts should be in a position to suspect that the information on emissions they are examining has been compiled using a very different scale or measurement procedure from the figure to which they are attempting to relate the information.
Another good result is that the authorities will have an obligation to assist and advise people seeking information so that they can apply their rights in the best possible way. Other practical arrangements agreed in the directive are also viable and fair from the point of view of the authorities that are responsible for implementing them.
We might therefore say that correcting the perceived weaknesses and shortcomings in the implementation of the old directive, which was mentioned as one of the aims of this directive, is being successfully realised.
The objective of the directive that is being realised least satisfactorily in fact is the aim to bring it up to date with developments in information technology. It seems very easy to make grand statements about
Europe, but when it is a matter of an obligation to create concrete content for an
Europe, some Member States even oppose the Internet being mentioned. Luckily, we had a special statement approved that said that developments in telecommunications and electronic media would be taken into special consideration in a re-examination of the directive. I believe that by the time the re-examination takes place the authorities will have realised that in fact it will be to their advantage if there are easy-to-use databases available for the public to use to search for information themselves. In this way they will not be taking up the time of the authorities in attending to their request."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"e"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples