Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-03-23-Speech-3-236-000"
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"en.20110323.21.3-236-000"2
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"Mr President, I think you will find that I have two and a half minutes, because not all my colleagues are here. As Chair of the committee, I first of all want to pay tribute to all the Members who have worked on this. I am pleased that they are all here this evening, led by Andreas Schwab, with a very strong team of shadow members who displayed really intense interest and expertise in this whole complicated area.
I think that it is right, as Viviane Reding says, that the co-legislators now have to move forward and make some decisions. The time this has taken is an indication of the political difficulties, both on the Council’s side and on Parliament’s side. I think that Parliament, as in many dossiers in the past, has shown that it has the ability to broker a compromise. I think that Parliament should vote on the amendments tomorrow, send a clear political signal about what we want, and then refer this back to committee.
I want to thank the Presidency and Ms Győri, who has been a most active advocate for the Presidency, for being open to our position as a result of that change. That does not mean that we are in any way committed to moving forward and closing those negotiations. However, we owe it to citizens and consumers to hold, at the very least, an open meeting to see if there is some basis for agreement. I think all colleagues are in tune with that.
Looking at what we have here, I would say, first of all, that I admire Ms Corazza Bildt’s enthusiasm, but I do not really see this Consumer Rights Directive as a milestone. Frankly I think it is more a stepping stone, because there are still plenty of difficult waters around where we are treading at the moment. I think it is a first cautious step towards dealing with harmonisation on issues that cause great emotion and a lot of political agitation. Understandably, consumers and consumer organisations in different countries do not like to see rights taken away. I think that has been one of the biggest problems we have faced.
I think we have a compromise that adds real value for consumers and for businesses, particularly in the areas of internet and cross-border trade. We must sustain those and also certain other areas, but my final word to the Commissioner is this: we desperately need a framework within which to make progress towards more harmonisation. We have a whole series of fragmented initiatives, including your work on consumer contracts, and other revisions. We desperately need that long-term strategic approach that will complete the stepping stones towards the milestone."@en1
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