Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-514"
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"en.20090422.62.3-514"2
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"Madam President, honourable Members, I would like to thank Mr Stockmann for the work he has done. Since 2003, the Marco Polo programme has aimed to create a more sustainable transport system in Europe by shifting a substantial part of the annual increase in road freight transport to other, more environmentally friendly modes of transport such as inland waterways, rail transport and short sea shipping. The first Marco Polo programme, which aimed to shift 48 billon tonne-kilometres from the roads in four years, ended in 2006, although the external assessment has shown that only 64% of this figure was achieved.
The experience gained with the second Marco Polo programme shows that, unfortunately, it is not becoming more effective, and that Europe is not making full use of this important tool for achieving a transport system more suited to the evolution of the market. Last year, I sent a series of letters to all EU transport ministers, urging them to use Marco Polo.
I therefore believe – and it looks as though Parliament shares my view – that the time has come to amend the regulation, to change the rules on access to this project, or programme, which must be granting funds that are not always used. We are definitely moving in the right direction, because we are trying to help small and medium-sized enterprises to benefit from a Community project. SMEs have, up to now, faced quite a lot of difficulty in accessing the European funds granted through the Marco Polo programme.
The message we are sending out today is not only directed at those who use Marco Polo. It is, I believe, a call for many European regulations to be amended, since the same is true of other sectors and of national regulations involving European funds; they are not always written in such a way as to make them easy to access. This is a very real problem in all Member States, and I would emphasise again that it concerns not only our regulations, but also national regulations that involve European funds.
So then, I feel that today we are not only working on the Marco Polo programme, rather we are sending a message on good law-making for the benefit of citizens and on simplifying access to Community projects. I therefore think, of course, that Mr Stockmann’s work is worthy of support and that the proposed text should be adopted, so that Parliament, I repeat, can send out a positive message tomorrow to the entire European Union.
Let me say again, this is not just a matter that concerns Marco Polo; it is a much broader issue. Starting with Marco Polo, I believe that we will be doing a service to other sectors that are particularly conscious of the use of Community funds and the take-up of the various programmes that the Commission offers to the 27 EU states and their businesses."@en1
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