Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-21-Speech-2-049"
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"en.20031021.2.2-049"2
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"Madam President, the European Union has once again shown its support, in this joint debate on the second rail package, for the liberalisation of the railways in order to promote greater competition in this crisis-ridden sector. In this context, I feel that rapid liberalisation of the rail sector in all the Member States would favour this mode of transport as a credible alternative to rail and road transport, and as a means of combating the explosion in these sectors, which have disastrous effects on the environment and on regional planning.
To my mind, this liberalisation can only be understood in the broad sense of greater competition in both the freight and passenger transport sectors, at both national and international levels. This liberalisation will mean that any Community rail transport company will have fair and equal access to infrastructure in all the Member States for commercial ends.
As I have already had occasion to emphasise, however, we need to fight against a very widely-held prejudice: liberalising rail transport does not mean that safety standards cannot be stepped up. This rail package actually enables safety regulations to be toughened, in particular by harmonising working times and rest periods for train drivers and other train staff performing safety tasks.
Since technology enables extremely high levels of safety, there is no good reason why legislators should be content to pass laws providing less protection for passengers. For instance, installing black boxes on trains is another safety measure that I completely endorse. Since these devices have proved to have clear benefits in the air and road sectors, in lorries and on buses, I cannot conceive of any justification for not applying the same technology on the railways. I insist that safety must have top priority, and would also like to express my support for the establishment of a European Railway Agency, which would permit a higher degree of interoperability and safety of the various trans-European networks.
I cannot end this speech without levelling some harsh criticism at the EU’s new priority projects scheme, known as the Quick-Start Programme. With a view to stimulating economic growth in Europe through large-scale projects, the Commission has drawn up a list of 13 initiatives, seven of them linked to rail transport. It is regrettable that the list only benefits transport networks in the centre of the European Union, failing to include the Iberian TGV links between Lisbon and Madrid."@en1
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