Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-05-29-Speech-3-070"
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"en.20020529.6.3-070"2
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"Mr President, I should like to thank you very much, Commissioner Monti, for the courage and the will you have shown in tabling this proposal. The Commission’s proposal is a step in the right direction, but we should like to have seen it go further in terms of free consumer choice, and the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party will therefore be tabling some amendments tomorrow. We were, however, obliged to support the Commission’s proposal in order to avoid any further watering down. There are many interests at stake, with many interested parties involved, and, as you yourself, Mr Monti, recently mentioned in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, some of these interested parties will stop at nothing in their attempt to organise future car sales in the way that suits them best. Unfortunately, the car manufacturers’ view of what is in their own best interests does not coincide with what is beneficial for consumers. We have clearly seen this in the form of the massive lobbying that has gone on everywhere in recent weeks and months in order to prevent a genuine internal market for car sales being established, with the consequent benefits for both dealers and consumers. We are surely not giving away too much by naming names and saying that it was, in particular, a couple of major German car manufacturers, Mercedes and BMW, who knocked on our door.
A majority in the European Parliament obviously do not want all the benefits, however, while many of the key aspects of the Commission’s original proposal were voted down in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. I had hoped we might have been able to reach a sensible compromise but, unfortunately, I have to say that I have been disappointed in this matter by a number of my otherwise good friends and allies in the Group of the Europe People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats and in the Group of the Party of European Socialists. I should nonetheless like to thank the rapporteur, Mr Konrad, for the sound work he has done and for having tried to move things in the right direction. I should like to conclude by giving Commissioner Monti the greatest possible encouragement to stand firm on this matter and by, for once, asking him not to listen to the majority of the European Parliament who have not known how to look after the interests of the ordinary citizen and consumer. My message is therefore: do not allow special interests to steer developments in a direction which is of benefit neither to dealers, consumers nor the overall European economy."@en1
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