Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-321"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050223.19.3-321"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I am happy to follow Mr Harbour in that same spirit which characterised the committee. The tone was set from the outset by the rapporteur, and her energies and skills as a new Member of this Parliament were quite exceptional, particularly since in the last few weeks she has been crossing the Alps more often than Hannibal, with other activities in her own country also.
I want to pay tribute to all those who brought this about under the Treaty provisions for consumer protection, which had not been used very frequently up to now. Everyone has to agree to a conclusion like this and any one person can wreck it. All of those who have spoken in the debate today have been contributors, both by withholding the negative power to destroy and joining the other institutions; the Luxembourg presidency and the Commission, and indeed the staff of our own committee, the Internal Market Committee, a new committee, to whom I would pay particular tribute, so that we brought about the right result here.
It extends the internal market; we should not forget that, because it produces more assured consumers. And it produces them because they are protected; because the special character of vulnerable consumers is acknowledged in this legislation; because there is a clear guarantee that high existing standards of consumer protection will not be imperilled and that over the next five years we move to higher standards for those that do not yet have them, and not lower standards for those who do; because the blacklist in the annexes here is clear, comprehensive and unambiguous. The consumer knows where she or he stands. So does the honest and legitimate businessman; and so does the cold-caller with the lottery scam; the rip-off timeshare artist; the peddler of mock sales.
If you sail under false colours this directive will sink you. I can think of nothing better guaranteed to enhance the image of this institution as a people's parliament for the public good than legislation like this. It opens the way for further developments, including, in time, more sophisticated use of self-regulation by a stable industry, and for the position of children, the one social category who are, by definition, vulnerable. To those of our colleagues who felt that, in these fields, we did not go far enough, I would say that we have a foundation of security which harmonisation at the highest level can now proceed.
We have helped our citizens, Mr President. We have provided an object lesson for our colleagues. It is not a bad start for this new committee and for this new Parliament and Commission. I thank you all."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples