Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-07-Speech-1-064"
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"en.20030407.5.1-064"2
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"Madam President, I should like to begin by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Grosch, for his excellent cooperation both during the first reading and now during the second reading. This directive is important for several reasons. I should like us to make a leap of imagination and imagine that we were about to develop a road transport system today. Would that transport system look like our present one? I hardly think so. We would have significantly more stringent safety requirements, we would construct our roads differently and we should definitely require road construction workers to be properly trained.
That is why this directive is important, for we must first of all be able to make certain demands of drivers of road vehicles for the carriage of goods or passengers, making of course stringent demands in terms of, for example, safety. Secondly, our directive would raise the status of their profession. That, I believe, would mean a very great deal, for quality would be guaranteed by those who do the work. Thirdly, well trained drivers would obviously do work that was better from a safety point of view, because they would be more aware of, and more involved in the consequences of, different situations. That too is reflected in the directive.
Like the rest of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, I would hope to avoid conciliation when it comes to this directive. I should have liked it if training could have taken place during working hours. We have tabled an amendment to that effect, but it was unfortunately not accepted. Following mature consideration, we have accepted the possibility of choosing between tests and courses, for we are aware of the fact that there is an extremely large number of people to be trained. What is important now is that we have high-quality training courses and that there are authorised training centres. It is therefore important that Amendment No 8 not be accepted, for it would involve a danger of social dumping where training conditions were concerned, with the shortest courses being chosen and in those places that are most convenient. If we agree to being able to choose between tests and courses, we cannot, unfortunately, agree to being able, at the same time, to choose in which country the courses are to be taken. That is not possible. It would be just too risky. I do not therefore believe that we can accept Amendment No 8.
Finally, I hope that we can avoid conciliation. I understood from the Commissioner that the road safety programme would come on stream quite soon, something for which I am most sincerely grateful. We have waited a long time for this and shall examine it with great interest."@en1
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