Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-16-Speech-1-096"
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the report we are presenting today at second reading is the outcome of teamwork, thanks to which we have reached an agreement with the Slovenian Presidency and the European Commission. For me, it was a real pleasure to work on seeking a compromise with my co-rapporteurs from the political groups. I was fortunate to have competent and experienced colleagues, who listened carefully and were present at the negotiating meetings. I would like to offer them my warm thanks, and I also want to thank the secretariat of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the political group advisers and my assistant, Sylvain Maréchal.
I am using the phrase teamwork because we did excellent work together with the representatives of the Slovenian Presidency, who took account of Parliament’s recommendations, and with the representatives of the European Commission, who gave us answers that made it easier for us to understand this proposal for a directive. I think we can all recognise the fruits of our cooperation in the compromise amendments that will be tabled for the vote tomorrow. So I thank everybody for having helped me in my job as rapporteur on this technical dossier.
I come now to the substance. The framework directive on water sets out a strategy to combat the chemical pollution of water. This proposal for a daughter directive aims, by establishing environmental quality standards, to guarantee a high level of protection against the risks that certain substances pose to the aquatic environment.
Let me highlight the main advances of this compromise text. We have introduced two major principles: the polluter pays principle and the principle of priority correction at source. The most significant aspects are practical ones. For example, the transitional areas of exceedance – redefined as mixing zones – are no longer simply zones that are established but now serve as a tool for underlining a problem, and it follows that it is up to the Member States to describe the corrective measures.
The main object of this directive was to harmonise standards at Community level. As a matter of course, it would therefore be up to the Commission to define the guidelines for harmonising inventories, emissions, discharges and mixing zones. We achieved that. We have also managed to ensure that more account will be taken of the situation of transboundary surface water bodies between Member States but also from third countries.
In regard to additional substances, Parliament had hoped to add a consistent number. On the basis of a preliminary filtering, the Commission has selected 13 substances it regards as giving cause for concern. The compromise clearly stipulates that on the basis of scientific data the Commission will have 24 months to pronounce on the final classification and to propose the relevant limit values. That represents fairly considerable progress, because in the main these substances are PCBs, free cyanide, EDTA, dioxins and bisphenols.
On the thorny question of sediments and biota, in the absence of scientific consensus, the compromise provides that Member States must monitor them in order to assess the long-term trends of the substances that accumulate there.
Finally, surprised that the proposal contained no new measures to monitor emissions, MEPs secured the compromise that stipulates, in Article 7, that the Commission shall, on the basis of reports from Member States, evaluate the effectiveness of existing legislation and progress in the reduction of the extent of the mixing zones, and then make amendments or propose the relevant legislation.
In view of those advances, I would ask Members to support this compromise package."@en1
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