Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-11-Speech-1-137"
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"en.20050411.18.1-137"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the directives we are debating today are of key importance in three respects, namely with regard to the regulations in force throughout Europe that provide social protection for employees, with regard to road safety and with regard to competition. I hope that the decision Parliament makes during the vote on Wednesday will be the right one, and that Members vote in favour of humane working conditions, road safety and fair competition – not only between the individual businesses that use the roads, but also between the various modes of transport.
Over recent years the situation in this sector has gone from bad to worse; we are witnessing social dumping of epic proportions, above all in the case of long-distance lorry drivers, not to mention coach drivers. We are faced with the fact, demonstrated by monitoring, that people are working for 38 hours without a break. No one can possibly drive for this long without using caffeine or other substances, some of which may well be illegal. It is patently obvious that this poses a risk to road safety, and the Council cannot fail to realise that this risk is presented not only by 40-tonne lorries, but also by small lorries known as ‘sprinters’ that are travelling long distances.
The latest findings unfortunately show that the risk to road safety from such vehicles has risen exponentially, and it is obvious that these figures do not relate only to Germany. The drivers of these vehicles are under particular pressure, as a great many of them deliver Internet orders and what are known as just-in-time services. This naturally means that they are under a great deal of pressure, and measures must be taken at EU level to protect them, just as measures must be taken to protect other road users from tired drivers.
I am sure that no one here will have forgotten the tragic tunnel disasters, the cause of which has been attributed to driver fatigue. This was only the tip of the iceberg, however, as we hear – time and time again, unfortunately – of accidents caused by tiredness at the wheel. It is a regrettable fact that the Council is quite clearly on the wrong side of the fence on this matter. I am sorry to have to be so blunt, but on occasions one could be forgiven for thinking that the Council was an ambassador for the black sheep among Europe’s business road users. In my opinion, it would be a real shame if this were to be the case.
I would ask you to support our position, in so doing acting in the interests of road safety, increasing Europe’s social credibility and making it possible for more frequent checks to be carried out in high-risk areas, where the demands we make of road safety are higher. We should let the whole world know that the European Parliament is the social conscience of the European Union."@en1
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