Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Lisi, we are all mindful of the recent industrial disasters which have cast a shadow over Europe. These accidents have taken place in spite of the legislation currently in force. We must, therefore, have even stronger requirements and do as much as possible to prevent accidents by concentrating our action on three areas as a matter of priority. First of all there are the products themselves, then there are the sites, their structure and their geographical location, and finally there are the people, and that means all the employees themselves and also the people living or working close to industrial sites. As far as the products are concerned – and this has already been mentioned – the Commission has revised the list and the thresholds in order to take into account not only the various accidents which have happened but also developments in scientific data. However, we believed that it was also necessary to amend the thresholds for ammonium nitrate so as to take into account the accident in Toulouse. As for the sites, legislation already makes provision for hazard studies. However, the competent authorities must also be able to request that these studies, which are carried out by the undertaking, be verified by a third party in cases where any doubt exists. As for the employees, efforts to improve training are needed, because training is the best method of preventing accidents. Such training must also be targeted at the employees of subcontractors working on site, since the number of subcontractors is increasing. It is essential to mobilise not only the employees within undertakings but also the people outside, because when there is an accident the people living close to industrial sites are also affected. It is therefore necessary to involve them in implementing external emergency plans, by allowing representatives of the local population to take part in consultative committees and also to inform the population as a whole about the risks and about what they should do if there is a problem. One of our objectives is to get citizens to become fully involved in ensuring their own safety. That does not mean simply making documents available. That is why information campaigns targeted at the people concerned must be carried out regularly. Measures to protect neighbouring populations must take into account the difficult coexistence between dangerous installations and residential areas. Amendments along these lines were adopted by the Committee on the Environment. The Group of the and my group proposed two amendments requiring the executive committee to develop a methodology for defining safe distances with regard to future businesses and residential areas, but also to take into account other criteria in current evaluations. We believe that these proposals are essential, but if they are to be given their full potential they must also be accompanied by legal responsibility on the part of the authorities which are responsible for urban affairs. That is why our group tabled an amendment along these lines. Too many major accidents have continued to occur since the adoption of the first directive in 1976. It is now high time that this legislation was applied. We owe that to all the victims of accidents of this kind.

Political group: PSE