Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-07-06-Speech-2-603"
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"en.20100706.33.2-603"2
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"Mr President, three relevant things have happened while we have been debating: first, it is clear that Europe will be the football world champions. A good omen, I think. Who exactly it will be, we will see. I do not want to express any preference now. The second is that Germany is receiving compliments from the United Kingdom. Chris Davies, many thanks! That also does not happen every day. It is certainly worth noting. Thirdly, all is still well with the world; even the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance finds football more important than environmental protection. Regrettably, our fellow Member, Mr Eickhout, has left us again. However, congratulations to our Dutch friends, of course.
I wanted to talk about two aspects of the debate to which I have just been able to listen. The first is that I understand all the worries and woes of my Eastern European friends only too well. As an East German, I am also half-Eastern European. I understand that Eastern Europe cannot immediately catch up on every step of environmental policy that has been taken in the Western European countries in recent decades. In order to get high-level environmental protection, one has to be able to afford it. Yes, that is true. However, I think that – even if we allow for this – it is worth approving this compromise, because it will do justice to the different starting positions that many Member States find themselves in.
Secondly, the argument that the use of best available techniques will endanger competitiveness, in particular, with respect to China, is not only false; it is also dangerous. We must deal with the fact that industrial processes in Asia are always cheaper than here. However, we will only meet this challenge if we implement best available techniques in as many branches of industry as possible. Those which do not do this will become less competitive.
No one, including this law, is demanding that an industrial enterprise should be switched off tomorrow. No one is demanding a leap from 0 to 100 in order to achieve a particular pollutant limit within a week. We have enough transitional periods, but to say that we must go without for competitive reasons is false. I also think that with this directive, we have set a course not only for environmental policy, but also for industrial policy, a course for which it is worth working in the next few years."@en1
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