Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-11-Speech-3-262"
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"en.20040211.10.3-262"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to thank Mr Stockmann for the work he has done and say to him that this proposal is clearly intended to facilitate and promote intermodal transport.
We believe it is an essential element if we are to maintain sustainable development in the European Union, combine economic growth with quality of life, with competitiveness and with transport which is competitive and respectful of the environment.
We need to improve and clarify the way we use the possibilities we have, combining modes of transport, which will allow us to optimise the infrastructures we have at our disposal.
When we talk about the intermodality sector, we need a more coherent and rigorous approach to the maintenance and control of units, because it is the units which are going to allow the container – the principle of the container, as we have seen, is the carrier for the future – to be transported by ship, by train or by lorry through our territory.
Hence the need for a more coherent and rigorous approach to maintaining the control of the units with a view to increasing safety, the harmonisation of certain characteristics of swap bodies in order to improve the efficiency of transfer and of the maintenance and implementation of a European intermodal loading unit which combines the advantages of current sea containers and those swap bodies, that is to say, stacking capacity, resistance, together with an optimum size for European pallets in accordance with the provisions of European road transport legislation. I would insist that it must also be possible to transport them by road.
The Commission’s intention is to create a more harmonised and efficient system of loading units for intermodal transport. Although rail transport will undoubtedly benefit from the proposal, one key objective is to give greater opportunities to inland waterways and short-sea shipping within the European intermodal market. Therefore, only by means of greater harmonisation of loading units can we achieve the performance necessary to slow down the rise in transport costs, of transfers, and make sea transport more competitive when it has to take over from road or rail.
In presenting this measure, the Commission has not proposed anything revolutionary – we are not trying to re-invent the wheel – we have faith in the approach, already proven and satisfactory, according to which we created the internal market: a Framework Directive which establishes the essential requirements and which leaves the technical details to the European standards bodies, which call on experts and also sector chiefs. It is they who know what the sector needs in order to achieve the political objectives.
I must say once again that we have held a very useful and in-depth debate on the issue with the Committee on Regional Policy, Transport and Tourism and I would like to thank them for having dedicated the time and effort to this measure necessary to allow this first reading to already be an entirely mature decision.
In the Council, however, things are not going so quickly. I trust that the Council will carefully study the results of this first reading in Parliament and that it can agree a Common Position quickly and, if possible, a Common Position which supports the proposal which is going to be issued by this Parliament."@en1
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