Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-15-Speech-4-063-000"
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"en.20120315.6.4-063-000"2
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"Mr President, I do not know who timetabled this debate but I do not think it was one of their best days!
I would ask the House to remember that I am not asking you today to support the report that was carried in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety by a small majority. Rather, I am asking you to vote for the joint EPP/ALDE amendments and the report, and to take into account the fact that we have made compromises here in order to try to secure a large majority for reform in this House.
I will just touch on a couple of issues. Firstly, the emissions trading scheme (ETS). This is a market mechanism, but it is not a perfect market mechanism. A huge surplus of allowances has built up and that needs correcting. When the ETS was launched the Commissioner at the time said that we were going to learn by doing. We are still learning. Roger Helmer of the UK Independence Party said that wind turbines were useless and were driving industry across to China. Well, he should then answer the question why, if that is the case, China is building more wind farms than the whole of Europe put together?
When we look at the green economy or the low-carbon economy, I do not like to talk about wind turbines, as that is too easy. I like to think of the Rolls Royce factory in Derby in the United Kingdom, where they are building engines for the A380 Airbus. This is very advanced technology. These engines can allow us to meet the aspirations of travel but do so by using less fuel and producing fewer emissions. Ms Grossetête, that is not undermining Europe’s competitiveness; it is ensuring that we can maintain it and strengthen it.
Some see the Roadmap and the proposals that will come forward from the Commission as a result as a threat. I see it as a challenge, and also as an opportunity. I have heard UKIP – and indeed Ms Gardini – saying that we should just carry on as we are and should not make changes unless the rest of the world does. It all sounds quite easy, with some degree of common sense. But that is not building a better future for Europe. It is just condemning us to the slow lane. It is allowing us to fall backwards, overtaken by the technological developments of the Far East.
We can accept that not all of us in this House want a green future, but we should not opt for a black future. We should be going forward to a bright future."@en1
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