Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-04-Speech-1-143"
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"en.20050704.19.1-143"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, first of all I would like to say a sincere thank you to all of you who have been involved in preparing this parliamentary report. Your cooperation has been quite seamless.
Environmental technologies are one of the strongest bridges linking the three pillars of the EU’s strategy for growth and competitiveness. They will provide an encouraging opportunity simultaneously to strengthen European growth, competitiveness and employment prospects, and to improve environmental protection.
The ecoindustry is just as important a branch of industry in Europe as, for example, aviation or pharmaceuticals, and its growth rate is more than 5% a year. The eco-industry at present provides employment for over two million people in the European Union. There is a growing global market for ecotechnology. Japan, Canada, the United States of America, and China are all aiming for a share of this market. Despite growth and fiercer competition, however, much ecoindustry potential remains unrealised.
The Commission’s communication on an environmental technologies action plan is an attempt to show the direction in which the EU and its Member States should be moving for new insights and feasible ideas to come into being, and it will also show how we might create impartial and competitive market prospects for eco-efficient innovations.
As rapporteur, I believe the basic principle here is that merely sufficient demand will give rise to innovation and create a sustainable market. Environmental legislation should be adequately ambitious, clear and sustained, so as to develop new environmental technology. The basic principle should be that environmental costs are fully included in the price of the product. An important factor here is the abolition of damaging subsidies. The true and competitive price of a product, commodity or service, is arrived at when a price tag is also put on the harm to the environment it causes. It can be applied through eco-taxes, for example, or with other charges. Often the mobilising power of several factors is also necessary. Prices for oil and other limited natural resources are so high now that we have to find new and sustainable forms of energy. Europe needs to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
In the action programme, the Commission has quite rightly stressed the need to find ways of speeding up the practical application of the results of research. Here we need investment not just in research but also venture capital. The entire European Union budget is approximately 1% of the Gross Domestic Product of the Member States. This imposes restrictions on direct financing by the EU. The EU should obviously increase its investment in ecotechnology, nevertheless. This should be visible as a clear area of emphasis in the Framework Programme for Research and the EU’s future Framework Programme for Competitiveness and Innovation. Rural development, cohesion and regional development funds need to be harnessed for the development and utilisation of ecotechnologies. The European Investment Bank should also participate in financing. Many Member States have good systems. These should be made known to, and adopted by, all of them. Citizens should also be advised, through the clearest possible labelling and reliable certificates, of the environmental sustainability of products and services throughout their lifecycle.
The goal of the Lisbon Strategy of sustainable growth, improved competitiveness and quality jobs linked to high standards of environmental protection is attainable. This will require, however, unbiased investment in eco-technology research, product development and market access promotion. The European Union needs, then, to aim for a 50% share of the eco-technologies market, a market which is growing globally, as part of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy."@en1
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