Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would thank my colleague Mr Lisi for the report he has presented on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds in paints, varnishes and vehicle refinishing products. His report very sensibly complements the Commission’s proposal in many areas, especially when it comes to the sensitive interfaces between economics, ecology, consumer protection and safety in the work place. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), in this case hydrocarbons, have a considerable part to play in the formation of ground-level ozone. Emissions are also formed from components of products containing solvents. In many Member States, health problems in connection with ground-level ozone and smog have increased considerably in recent years. In the case of sensitive population groups, ozone pollution may lead to irritation of the eyes, sore throats and breathing problems. In the environment, account is to be taken of effects upon photosynthesis. I support the Commission’s initiative to introduce Community-wide measures for reducing VOC emissions. I consider the product-related approach selected here to be basically sensible. The fact is also to be welcomed that 70% of decorative paints are now water-based. I also expressly support the extension of the directive, agreed to by a significant majority of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, to include dangerous substances in addition to volatile organic compounds present in paints, varnishes and vehicle refinishing products. This approach would combine necessary measures in a single directive and prevent unnecessary bureaucratic expenditure. If the dangerous substances are, however, incorporated into the directive, it must also still be possible realistically and sustainably to apply the required minimum standards, that is to say the minimum and maximum values. What, then, we are talking about is optimum environmental and consumer protection without, in the process, endangering the competitiveness of our European paint industry, as well as the painting trade that is closely bound up with it. That being said, jobs would also be endangered by the attempt, which goes far beyond the Commission’s proposal, to replace dangerous substances, either fully or to a greater extent, by the year 2010 Europe-wide. That is a threat to the entire paint industry, and first and foremost to small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as a severe setback for our European economic area. With a view to protecting the health of users and consumers, volatile organic solvents and dissolvents should not, however, be replaced by substances that are dangerous to health. Injury to consumers’ health due to problematic new ingredients such as allergens, or long-lasting damage to interiors due to heavily volatile components of decorative paints, must, in any case, be prevented. Environmental and consumer protection have the highest priority. The quality and usability of products ought not, however, to suffer in the process. If the principle of rapid and complete replacement were really to be put into practice, we should have to accept some crucial losses of quality, especially in the cases of paints and varnishes. I personally would not expect either myself or anyone else in the European Union to accept a situation in which the varnish on the door of a private house soon flakes just as quickly as the paints on the wall of the house fade. We need a reduction in solvents and dangerous substances in paints and varnishes, but we need a plan that can be put into practice. It is technically impossible to reduce the proportion of volatile organic solvents to below 300 grams per litre by 2007 and still further by 2010, but it is technically possible and sensible to reduce the proportion of these substances to 400 grams per litre by 2007 and to a permissible maximum value of 300 grams per litre by 2010. At the same time, reasonable maximum values need to be applied to limit the side effects caused by the inhalation of paints and varnishes by tradesmen and handymen. The purpose of the directive must be to employ practicable measures in order, in the medium term, to reduce the proportion of paint and varnish solvents in emissions Europe-wide.

Political group: PPE-DE