Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-23-Speech-2-998"
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"en.20101123.5.2-998"2
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"The European Union’s attempt to reduce the use of coal is only right and proper. Since the longterm aim for Europe and the human race is nondependence on fossil fuels, we need to realise that European coal mines will, sooner or later, have to adapt to change. Globalisation means that there will be significant price pressures on coal. For this reason, production will transfer to countries where labour is cheaper and the areas in the EU where coal is produced will see jobs and income drain away, as mines can no longer respond to the competition. Although this is an unwelcome development, the actions of the authorities cannot conflict with the basic principles of the market economy. Unprofitable production should not be kept on a life support machine forever. We must remember that structural change on this scale will inevitably have farreaching and dramatic social consequences. Mine closures often mean the end of an area’s main source of livelihood. This is reflected in the ability of cities and towns to provide their residents with services and the decline of entire communities. It is in everyone’s interest if major social changes such as those associated with the gradual closure of mines take place with the right controls in place and over a sufficient period of transition. Coal will nevertheless play a key role in our lives in the foreseeable future. It will still be needed, for example, in the steel industry, and studies of its use as a raw material for polymers have been encouraging. Furthermore, an excellent costbenefit ratio has been achieved with combined heat and power using coal. We should not therefore succumb to the illusion that winding down coal mines is a sort of political end in itself. In the future, a profitable mining industry must be a possibility – in the EU too."@en1
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