Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-21-Speech-2-036"
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"en.20031021.2.2-036"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the radical reform of the railways is based on a noble idea. The initial aim was to put rail transport back on an equal footing in the face of the success of road transport. While road transport is cheaper and more practical in terms of accessibility, it also causes a great deal of pollution.
From my point of view, I would have preferred interoperability to be firmly implemented. The advocates of this liberalism were spurred on by the Commission’s initial proposal that national and international freight transport should be liberalised. They then set their sights still higher. The European Parliament made a higher bid and declared its support for opening up rail passenger transport to competition at the first reading. Faced with the opposition of the Council, we are now witnessing an attempt to force this through at the second reading. This is quite unacceptable especially as no impact assessment of the first package has demonstrated the benefits of excessive liberalisation.
Perhaps we would be afraid of the result. As a member of the Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities, I cannot subscribe to Amendment No 2 or Amendment No 7. They take liberalisation too far. Such liberalisation would particularly affect France. In France, international passenger transport accounts for 20% of rail passenger transport whereas the figure for other countries is between 2 and 7%. The desertification of the least profitable areas of the country is inevitable. What will become of life in country areas? These are of little interest to private operators looking to make a profit. The concept of rail transport is that of a precious public service that contributes to social cohesion and to harmonious national and regional development.
Lastly, where liberalisation has been badly managed, there have unfortunately been more and more accidents, indicating a dearth of investment. It has even been necessary to renationalise in some cases."@en1
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