Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-15-Speech-2-191"
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"en.20051115.25.2-191"2
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"Mr President, when we come to vote on REACH, we do so at the end of a debate that has lasted almost two years and was, at its outset, conducted along strongly ideological lines. I say that with reference not only to the previous Environment Commissioner’s inglorious sensationalism, but also to some of the views emanating from the Greens today. They need to be told, gently, that there is more to politics than the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, that there is more to Parliament than the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, and that there is more to the European Union than Scandinavia.
I would like to say that I agree with Mrs Mann in so far as we, in this House, are working in Europe’s interest. I assume that that is what my fellow Members from other countries are doing and would claim that for myself. It has to be said, though, that ideology was initially introduced into the debate by the business world as much as by anyone else, for there were many in it who felt obliged to prophesy that REACH would be industry’s downfall, exaggerated though that certainly was. The debate has since become more rational, and it was indeed necessary that it should. In particular, I would like to thank Mr Nassauer and Mr Sacconi for having managed this difficult dossier really well.
It must be abundantly clear to us that most small and medium-sized businesses, in particular those at the end of the production chain, will be significantly overstretched if the legal requirements are not simplified, if they get no outside support – which will be expensive, if the means of implementation are not practicable, and if the Commission draft remains in its original form. That is why we support ‘Objection!’, a European alliance of SMEs, which has taken an active part in the debate and demonstrated in practical terms what REACH will really mean at grass-roots level.
Even now, the legislation we pump out of Brussels has become so complex that it is often beyond the capacity of SMEs to handle it. It follows, then, that if we do not succeed, in the course of implementing REACH, in making the information and assessment processes less complex, the existing transposition deficit will become all the greater, and that really is not in the interests of anyone in this House.
In moving over to an approach to registration that focuses more on risk, the compromise proposal accomplishes a necessary paradigm shift, and rightly too, for that is where the crucial weakness is to be found in the Commission’s draft. The fact is that this would give cause to fear that requiring data without reference to risk would result in substances being lost to the market solely for reasons of cost. Were that to happen, REACH would not only have failed to achieve an essential objective, but would also have weakened European industry’s capacity for innovation. So let us get serious, let us have better regulation, let us be discerning in adopting REACH. I might add that I believe that we should be conducting this debate in Brussels rather than in Strasbourg."@en1
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