Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-12-11-Speech-1-106"
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"en.20061211.14.1-106"2
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"Mr President, Commissioners, representatives of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, if we manage to approve the REACH compromise this week, this House will have proved for the second time during this term that it listens to the laments of the people and that it is capable of taking its responsibility in very extensive and complex technical matters and of helping bring those matters to a good end. The negotiators had a very difficult task to contend with and I should like to extend sincere congratulations on the agreement reached. I am delighted to note that an agreement was reached at second reading. Everything had, after all, been said and it was time to bring matters to a close and to let those who have to put these ideas into practice in the field go ahead and do just that.
We in the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats have always been reluctant to unilaterally back one or the other lobby. We have continually endeavoured to strike a balance – a balance between the ambition to increase health and environmental protection, on the one hand, and to maintain a competitive edge and prevent unnecessary administrative burdens, on the other. As I see it, we have done a reasonable job of this. That nobody is 100% satisfied is inherent in the nature of a compromise such as this one.
I take the view that, with the package on which we are to vote on Wednesday, we have improved on previous texts that we drafted and voted on during the course of this legislative procedure on many different fronts. In the area of licensing policy, we are certainly making progress, both in terms of conditions under which licences for dangerous substances are granted and in terms of the duration of these licences.
The protection of intellectual property has been reinforced, which was necessary, and unnecessary tests on animals are being banned. I am persuaded that the large undertakings will know what to do with our compromise text, but am not so sure about the smaller ones, and in this respect, we in the Group of the European People’s Party are relying on the implementing measures and the necessary accompanying measures; if the Commission has something up its sleeve in this respect, I should like to find out shortly.
Having weighed everything up, we will endorse the package, because we know that in 11 years' time, we will have drastically renewed chemical substances policy and will have made it transparent. Europeans will live with fewer health risks, and we are relying on the fact that the competitiveness of industry will not be impaired but rather strengthened. Naturally, undertakings pay a price, and not a small one. Most people in society, however, are asking for more health information and more health protection, and this is something that is only set to increase.
In time, a REACH tested label can become a commercial asset instead of an economic handicap, and, as has been said here before, our legislation will be able to become normative at a global level. We must in any event set down to work by
launching sound information campaigns directed at the consumers."@en1
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