Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-02-Speech-3-260"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030702.7.3-260"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the European Parliament rapporteurs would like to make us think that creating the Single European Sky would be a noble cause and a big step forward that Europeans should welcome. The Council, however, has no need to embellish reality, which is why there are differences in formulation.
The differences in formulation, however, hide the reality more than highlighting it. The European Union is an association dominated by rival States that hold on to their borders, even in the sky. What they call their sovereignty is only the civil and military defence of their egotistical interests and those of their wealthy classes. Although the sky is single by nature, it is not yet single for human society, and the European institutions are clearly not managing to put an end to this aberration.
The expression ‘single sky’, however, is being used to cover up an operation aimed at making further inroads into the public service of air traffic control for the benefit of operators, suppliers and private service providers. That is what it is about. The European authorities have already authorised the privatisation of the British body responsible for air traffic control. Some of the Eurocontrol rules have also been modified to enable private companies to make profits in the air traffic control sector. Air traffic control unions in Europe are rightly condemning this rampant privatisation and its consequences both for the safety of flights and for the staff’s working conditions.
A year ago, at the time of the Lake Constance air disaster, we saw what tragedies could result from the introduction of the law of profit into this field, even if only to a limited extent. Despite that, and while hypocritically defending themselves, the European authorities are persisting and signing. They are pushing even further towards dismantling this public service, towards the race for profits and cutting the sky up into sectors that can be allocated to private operators. The airlines will undoubtedly do well out of it, but the air traffic control staff and passenger safety will not.
We are therefore once again expressing our opposition to this increased privatisation of the sky, which is damaging both to users and to air transport employees in the broad sense, and to the people in the flight path."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples