Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-11-Speech-2-296"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20011211.14.2-296"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, although we, sitting here together, are all good colleagues and agreeable people, one does wonder about the point of the five of us sitting here this evening to discuss this report, which is as much about lawmaking as it is about industrial policy and protection of the environment. It seems, though, to be part of the higher purpose of this Parliament that we should have to do this here, and at this time of the day, all the same.
Since first reading stage, our aim has been to make motorcycles just as clean as passenger cars have become thanks to our legislation. I believe we can take pride in the reduction of emissions from passenger cars, lorries and buses, because we have in fact, despite greatly increased traffic, been able to achieve a marked reduction in exhaust emissions. One piece has not quite been fitted into the jigsaw, and that is motorcycles. Here, too, there is a two-stage strategy for reducing the emissions of new vehicles by 2003 and 2006 to such an extent that, in 2006, a newly licensed motorcycle will in fact be just as clean as a car complying with EURO III standards.
That being so, we now have to boldly take the last step and make the 2006 stage binding as well, firstly, in order to make the objective mandatory. Secondly, though, in order also to make it safe for industry to plan ahead, as of course new emission technology and new engines are being developed, and 2006 is no longer quite so far ahead. In that sense, I can also understand that it is in industry's interest to ask for a safe space in which to plan ahead. We must make the 2006 stage mandatory.
I do not believe there is much sense in waiting still longer for a new test procedure, perhaps one that will have been agreed on with the other world markets, Japan and the USA, and will be thoroughly suitable. Looking at the horizon, though, I do not see that being feasible in the foreseeable future, and so I suggest that we go back to the test procedure we applied to cars and that has proved itself over time, thereby demonstrating a more realistic way of going about things than has previously been the case with motorcycles. I believe, too, that the test procedure we now want to make applicable will tend not to produce results significantly differing from those produced by the new worldwide test procedure that is currently under discussion. We can therefore rely on the test procedure for passenger cars.
What is more important is to decide whether or not to still discuss the procedure gradually. It is also more important to stipulate that motorcycles should not achieve quite different emission values outside the test cycle, in other words that motorcycles are tuned only to the test cycle, and that electronic manipulation does not take place. This is therefore both proper and vital, and, on this point, the Council has agreed with us that such electronic distorting apparatus should be unambiguously prohibited.
Secondly, we want, in addition to the 2006 fixed stage, tax incentives for the early placing on the market of low-emission vehicles and for the retrofitting of older vehicles where that is technically possible and without discrimination against their owners. Another important point applies as much here as to other types of vehicles, such as passenger cars, lorries and buses, namely that it is not enough for vehicles to achieve great emission values only on a test bed; they must be able to keep to them throughout their working lives. For two-wheelers, too, demands must be made on their durability. When we vote tomorrow on the package we have presented to you, I believe we will be on the right road, adding this sector's chapter to the success story that is the reduction of emissions from European traffic."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples