Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-21-Speech-2-473"
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"en.20081021.44.2-473"2
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"Madam President, every day there are Europeans who become ill because of air pollution. Every day there are Europeans who die because of air pollution from traffic in Europe. We also know that we are facing extreme climate changes, which are not least due to the fact that too much fuel is being used by the transport sector. For those two reasons, this is extremely important legislation that we are debating in the House this afternoon. For those two reasons also, this is an extremely important compromise that we have successfully negotiated between Parliament and the Council of Ministers and that we shall, I hope, adopt tomorrow.
What we would be adopting is an obligation on the part of European authorities to play a much greater role in combating air pollution. What we are adopting is an obligation for authorities to take account of more than the price in pounds and pence or euros and cents when making a decision to purchase a vehicle, whether it be a refuse collection lorry, bus or other vehicle they use to carry out public sector tasks. Account must also be taken of the costs to health, the environment and the climate of the fact that vehicles emit different types of particles and that, in burning fossil fuels, they cause increased pollution and thus more global warming.
We are not compelling local authorities to choose the most environmentally friendly solution, but we are forcing them to take account of the consequences in terms of health and the environment when making their calculations. We are also creating openness and transparency in connection with the decisions made. I am thus also certain that far more public authorities in Europe will make the correct – that is to say, the green – choices rather than the short-term, albeit perhaps cheaper, options involving calculations merely in pounds and pence. Moreover, that is the whole purpose of the proposal.
What is more, the proposal will presumably, I hope, have some direct environmental impact because the public sector is in actual fact responsible for a large proportion of the purchases of a wide range of vehicles: for example buses, with public authorities in Europe accounting for approximately a third of bus purchases. Over and above the very direct environmental impact, this proposal will also have a secondary effect, as we want to create a demand for special environmentally friendly vehicles – a demand that can drive the market and that can make it profitable for industry to develop new, better and more environmentally-friendly vehicles, and before legislation requires them to do so.
I think it important to emphasise that this is not a very bureaucratic arrangement. It is not a question of imposing a whole lot of onerous rules on local authorities. Nor is it a question of creating a huge amount of red tape. On the contrary, we have put together an arrangement that is very easy to implement and roll out. It is an arrangement that also contains exemptions wherever they may be required and, especially, one that ensures that a country already in possession of an efficient system that takes account of the impact on health and the environment of vehicle purchases can retain that system.
As has already been pointed out, we have successfully negotiated an agreement, a compromise. In the process, I believe we have also sent an important signal that we stand shoulder to shoulder here in Parliament where this important piece of legislation is concerned. I should like to thank all the shadow rapporteurs and the Commission for its constructive cooperation. I should also like to thank the French Presidency for the focused effort it too has made to reach this compromise. I am proud that, tomorrow, we can vote through a piece of legislation that will reduce pollution in Europe and whereby local authorities will be in the driver’s seat in the fight against global warming and the fight against the air pollution that makes many Europeans ill every year."@en1
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