Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-05-16-Speech-2-287"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20000516.11.2-287"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, like aviation, the present issue is reminiscent of air traffic control. It is high time that the Member States forsook their national stances in favour of a European stance because it is national stances that have prevented the rail system from being vital and from retaining its passengers and freight. Instead, we are now faced with the opposite.
Mr Savary’s excellent report is the first in a whole series of reports which will deal with the rail system and its liberalisation, which is essential, in my view. Trains should not be confined to internal borders within a large European market. I think that is important. Liberalisation and competition should be introduced within this large European market. That, in my view, is the best solution for customers and services. If the best solution had been cooperation between national companies, then they would have done this a long time ago and we would not be faced with this long-standing problem, namely that rail transport is on the wane.
For a country like mine, and several other Members have spoken about their own countries, it is, of course, essential that we have one European market with technical unity or ‘interoperability’, to use a buzz word. Indeed, a small country is vulnerable in that respect, but a country which lies at major intersections is even more vulnerable to this. I think that we need to take sound steps and take them fast.
A difficult issue was that of personnel. Mr Savary, I welcome the compromise that we were able to reach in that respect. It is, of course, important for health and safety to be regulated and not compromised over, and this is also true, of course, of training. We should be very clear about this too, so as to ensure that these issues are brought into line.
I am left with one question, namely I wonder whether we are sufficiently ambitious, as indeed, we are only referring to trans-European rail systems. In my opinion, however, if we harmonise trans-European rail systems, we should also do the same for national rail systems. This is especially important for those people who manufacture trains and train equipment. We need, as a matter of urgency, to create a European single market in that respect too, and this will only be possible if we harmonise trans-European, i.e. international, as well as national traffic.
As such, we need to ensure as soon as we can that we create rail systems modelled on the HST, such as Thalys and Eurostar, which do not stop at borders but which carry on. This should also be possible for ordinary trains because if not, Mr President, we are heading for a traffic nightmare. Indeed, if we do not breathe new life into the railway sector, we will always have that traffic nightmare hanging over us and it is absolutely essential that we resolve this matter."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples