Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, on Monday one of the major newspapers reported on the emissions legislation we are due to adopt tomorrow under the headline 'Restrictions tightened up'. This legislation certainly takes us a further step towards reducing atmospheric pollutants emitted by internal combustion engines. The new legislation before us means that by 2006 motorcycles and scooters will be just as clean as a modern car registered in the Euro III category. It has taken us a long time to reach this stage. In the past, motorised two-wheel vehicles were somewhat ignored in emissions legislation. This has led to a situation in which the limit values for these vehicles are several times higher than the limit values for vehicles such as motor cars and heavy goods vehicles. There is no way we can justify a motorcycle with just one passenger emitting 17 times as much pollution as a motor car with up to four passengers. So it is both right and necessary that we have also initiated appropriate legislation in this area as well, and I believe that the result we have finally achieved is acceptable. We have set limit values that cut permissible emissions by an average of 75%. I believe that is a figure we can all be proud of. We are to achieve it in two mandatory stages. We have argued a little bit, but in the end we have agreed on the second mandatory stage, so that by 2006 all newly registered motorcycles and scooters will be able to achieve this considerable reduction. However, in addition to setting limit values, we have also put in place additional safety nets so that these limit values do not just have an impact at vehicle registration but also genuinely lead to motorcycles and scooters on the road with lower emissions. We have therefore agreed that from 2006 onwards the devices should continue to operate correctly for at least 30 000 km. This means that manufacturers must ensure that motorcycles remain clean in practice, on the road. We further agreed that if there are reasonable grounds for doubt, the authorities can carry out in-service testing of vehicles and type testing to see if there is a mechanical, technical or perhaps maintenance-related fault leading to higher emissions. And we have also agreed that there should be no scope for cheating, so there can be no electronic cut-off devices. There are various instances of manufacturers being able to produce fantastic results during the test cycle but with appalling emissions when the vehicles are running outside the test cycle. That is not acceptable. So we have agreed on a solid and comprehensive overall package. This is also evident in the fact that we have somewhat changed the test conditions for type approval. Up to now, a warm motorcycle was tested at 50 km. That is of course a long way from real operating conditions. We have therefore stipulated that measurement must start with a cold motorcycle and must also cover higher speed ranges, and also include an open-road section, because in practice motorcycles are of course scarcely driven at a maximum speed of 50 km. We also finally agreed on that under the conciliation procedure. So I think we can justifiably say that we have really put in place a further piece of the history of European air quality. This really is a success story for the European Union, which will mean that Europe's air is a great deal cleaner. I would like to thank everyone who has cooperated on this. (Applause)

Political group: PSE