Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-24-Speech-4-022"
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"en.20080424.5.4-022"2
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"Mr President, I would like to congratulate the rapporteur on an excellent approach to the issue of environmental protection. I would also remind you that we have known since the UN report entitled ‘Our Common Future’, which was prepared by Margot Wallström, that it is our responsibility to future generations, to our children and grandchildren, to leave the natural environment in the best possible condition.
The involvement of the European Union in this area is already very good, but the European Parliament is also keeping its finger on the pulse. We have a special temporary Committee on Climate Change, we have good legislation, and we enact regulations, directives and decisions. Now the time has come to strengthen other mechanisms, especially financial incentives and taxes, and also to step up information campaigns and preventive measures.
For these actions to be effective, there has to be a Community approach. Member States have to overcome their reluctance and their resistance to tax harmonisation, at least as far as the environment is concerned. Even though they are used for sensible purposes, ecological taxes are not at all popular at present. Just like all taxes, they are disliked. For this reason we have to make all possible efforts at European and national levels to make ecological payments and taxes socially acceptable.
What we need are activities that inspire a high level of ecological awareness. We need incentives that will ensure that good practices are used widely and will promote pro-ecological social behaviour. After all, no one complains when, in the European Parliament shop, we are asked to pay five cents for a plastic bag. This is of fundamental importance – not the financial dimension of this action, but the moment of reflection that accompanies it, when the customer thinks whether to take the plastic bag, or to leave it and reduce the amount of rubbish on the planet. This is a good way to make people think. People will accept financial charges, taxes and other environmental levies, but only when they believe they are sensible and can see a positive outcome."@en1
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