Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-11-23-Speech-3-017-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20161123.7.3-017-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I like to extend my thanks to the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs for their excellent cooperation on this very important file. It is important to recognise that, at the beginning of the mandate of this Parliament, the issue of air equality was not perhaps quite uppermost in people’s thoughts. It has taken a scandal or two to get us to this situation, most notably, of course, the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal involving VW.
This is an issue that affects so many of our citizens: 400 000 across the EU are dying prematurely, and in my city – the EU’s biggest city, London – 10 000 people are dying every single year from the effects of poor air. 90% of our citizens who live in cities are exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution. We could be proud of this place and the coordinated action that has taken place at a European level. Throughout the process, it was the European institutions that led the way in terms of ambition. The high initial ambition shown by the Environment Committee is testament to the individual ambitions of the Members who supported the highest targets, and this place can be proud of consistently holding a higher line than that shown by the Member States. Ultimately we had to compromise, but it was the national governments who had consistently shown the least resolve.
At every stage this Parliament, representing 500 million citizens across the European Union, was backed not just by NGOs, scientists and public health campaigns, but also by cities from Berlin to Barcelona, London to Lisbon, Paris to Prague, to Dublin to Dubrovnik, Amsterdam to Aarhus. City mayors have shown us that they want this action to be taken at European level. We now have this deal on the table with Member States; it is not perfect, and it will not eliminate the problem, but it is significant progress and it does show what can be achieved by scaling up overriding competing regional and national interests and acting in the common good. Our task is now to hold governments to account on delivering these targets. We must challenge the old tired but re-emerging competition between industry and the idea that industry and clean air cannot go hand in hand. We must consistently put pressure to target resources into innovation and the development of new technology, and we must never surrender to the divisive rhetoric from those who want to see a race to the bottom between us on environmental standards.
It has perhaps become fashionable in my country to pretend we can insulate ourselves from difficult decisions, to pretend that we can deal with these issues on our own. We cannot. We breathe the same air. I have no idea what Brexit will end up doing to my city and my country, but I do know that the best environmental protections we have have come from this place. If we are to continue to work and to trade with our nearest neighbours in the world’s biggest market, we have to abide by its rules. I do not expect them to, but if my government decides to use environmental standards as a bargaining chip, I expect and urge all of us here to stand firm. Let us continue in this place to show the highest resolve."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples