Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-22-Speech-3-336"
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"en.20090422.54.3-336"2
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"Mr President, I assume that this is a joint debate on the three reports forming part of the road package.
I should like to thank the Council, and also the Commission staff. The work we have done over the last two years has produced good results.
Road and freight transport within the European area accounts for approximately 75% of transport and employs two million people. Certain new rules were called for in view of the market opening for 25 countries that is planned for May 2009. The Commission proposals were along the same lines.
As regards the report by my colleague Mrs Ţicău – whom, along with all the rapporteurs on the road package, I also wish to thank for the constructive cooperation – it is important that clear guidelines are being laid down on this for transport operators. They must prove their reliability throughout Europe, and must also have a sound financial structure. Transport managers should be able to demonstrate either many years’ experience or a high level of training. Serious offences can jeopardise this reliability, which also means that Member States will be called upon to continue to perform checks and punish offences even after the entry into force of this regulation. This is often lacking in the transport sector as a whole.
More than half of Parliament’s amendments have been accepted. I shall not go into all of them today, but I should like to highlight one result of the unofficial trialogue that is very important to me, namely the combating of ‘letterbox companies’. These lead to distortions of competition and weaken national undertakings. Preventing this form of establishment means preventing social and fiscal dumping, which was also a subject in itself in the road package.
On the subject of market access for buses, coaches and lorries – buses and coaches in particular – this regulation mostly revolved around the ‘12-day rule’, as agreement was reached very quickly on the other points. The reintroduction of the possibility of taking a weekly rest period after 12 days does not compromise safety. The daily driving and rest periods must be observed, and on such journeys drivers will never exceed the permitted daily driving time. In addition, these 12-day trips help European integration and, for many people, are a very economical way of going on holiday.
The discussion on market access was one of the most intense for freight transport, and here Parliament did not obtain everything it wanted. Yet we did reach a compromise, and it was a good one. It seems to me that, particularly for cabotage – three operations in seven days – this compromise is a good starting point. The ultimate aim is to regulate services in third countries and, in the medium term, the cabotage market should be opened. We are awaiting proposals from the Commission on this, as cabotage should also serve to avoid unladen journeys. Nor do we want to interpret the imposition of temporary restrictions on this as protectionism, however. At this particular moment, with social and tax harmonisation in the transport sector completely failing to take effect, it was a very good idea to limit it in order to avoid unfair competition. Yet we should not wait two years before applying this regulation. Six months for cabotage and the 12-day rule should suffice.
I should also like a clear answer from the Commission as to whether countries that have already opened their cabotage markets pursuant to Article 306 of the Treaty will be prevented from continuing to do so under this regulation. I hope that the Commission will make a clear statement today on the further opening of cabotage markets and on Article 306."@en1
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