Mr President, to get back to the root of the problem, it has now been established by the various different institutions responsible for assessing disamenities and their impact on the people that the people’s greatest concern is noise pollution. This is completely understandable if we consider that the majority of European citizens are exposed to uncomfortably high levels of noise. Under these conditions, the European institutions’ delay in legislating is highly regrettable, particularly the Commission’s failure to propose practical measures to combat noise and to set limit values for noise exposure. A Green Paper was presented in 1996 and nothing else has happened since. It is true that the noise problem is largely due to transport, particularly road transport, but air transport is a factor which is also giving increasing cause for concern. The peak levels of noise during take-off and landing are specific to air transport and, of course, this problem is exacerbated by the effect of the noise at night, for it must be admitted that night flights, or rather aircraft taking off and landing during the night, make sleep almost impossible in some areas near airports. What has been done to regulate aircraft to date? Standards were last established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in 1977. Therefore, there has been no progress in this area for 23 years, and it is clear that aircraft replacement policies are not in any way motivated by the introduction of more stringent standards, to the extent that our aircraft are extremely outdated. The recent Commission communication on air transport and the environment defines a noise reduction strategy based both on economic factors, such as improving air traffic control and airport access, and on fostering progress in technology. This is a good strategy which will limit the increase in noise pollution, but in my opinion and, I would argue, the opinion of a good number of Members, it will not allow us, in the short term, to reach our objective which is that nobody is exposed to dangerously or uncomfortably high noise levels. Faced with this situation, a number of countries and regions have taken steps to restrict access to airports at night. Unfortunately, they have not been very organised about it, with the result that some firms, particularly courier and freight companies, have reacted badly – to my mind, dangerously. They are threatening to relocate and this is creating economic insecurity in the regions concerned. I therefore feel that harmonisation at European level is imperative. Of course, this does not mean demanding uniformity, for regional differences must be taken into account, but there must be a common core in the approaches of the different Member States of the European Union. I also feel that the organisation of night air transport activities, which are inevitably going to be noisy whatever the level of technology employed, is certainly something which must be restricted and coordinated. I therefore call upon the Commission to take action in this area. I made no contribution to this morning’s debate and, with your permission, I would like to say a few words now regarding the vote. Personally, I would prefer a vote in which a large number of Members take part to a vote which takes place at noon on Friday in which only thirty or forty Members participate. Frankly, that distresses me, for a resolution voted in by only a small number of Members carries very little weight. I took part in this morning’s action and I did not appreciate criticism from Members who interpreted it as an anti-Strasbourg manoeuvre. I am not at all against Strasbourg: quite the opposite, and I have proved it many times, despite the fact that I am Belgian. I do not wish to see Strasbourg cease working normally from Monday to Friday. (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE