Mr President, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this is a good day, even if there are not so many people listening at the moment – and I hope that the press will report on this important debate – because we are finally on the way towards also establishing an internal market in the rail sector. This is an absolutely crucial point, because this is the only internal market that is actually still lacking in the transport sector. That is why, Commissioner, our four reports express our full agreement, in principle, with the Commission's basic ideas. However, being a self-assured Parliament and co-legislator, we have also tabled some substantial amendments to the four Commission proposals. I hope that the Commissioner will support all of them. Why have we tabled amendments? By tabling these amendments we are seeking to hasten the revitalisation of the rail sector in the European Union. We must create the necessary framework conditions sooner, because if we do not manage to revitalise the railways, we will not meet our European transport policy objective – laid down in the White Paper – by 2010 either. By 2010 we want to bring the different modes of transport back into balance, which in practice means that we want to carry more freight by rail instead of by road and more passengers by rail instead of by air or road. To achieve this objective of putting a larger proportion of the overall volume of traffic back onto the railways, we need to create appropriate framework conditions. These must be such that the rail networks really are opened up throughout the Union to existing and new railway undertakings, that is that network access is liberalised. In addition, by adopting European standards we must also physically cross internal borders, meaning that trains must be able to cross borders without stopping or slowing down, so that we can also make the advantages offered by the internal market a reality from the technical point of view. And we need a high level of safety. Since in the future we will not only have the national railway companies in the Member States but also increasing numbers of private railway undertakings, operating across the Union, it is no longer sufficient for the national authorities to be responsible for safety standards. Instead we need common, high European standards of safety for the benefit of passengers and railway staff. Finally, we need a European railway agency to energetically push forward all of these measures and monitor them. We have made progress on interoperability, but too slowly. At a conference, technical experts informed us that it would take 30 years to achieve interoperability, that is for trains to be able to use different networks without stopping. Ladies and gentlemen, if we wait that long there will not be any railways left in Europe that are operated on a commercial basis. However, we want the railways, and so all of us here need to energetically drive these measures forward, and that is why we need a European railway agency. In an internal market for railways designed in this way, it will be crucial for modern, forward-looking railway undertakings to attract more freight and more passengers onto rail by providing services that customers want and that run on time. If we continue to have the kind of planning system that we have today, which means that a railway undertaking cannot guarantee when a train travelling from Germany to Italy is going to arrive – there are hour- and even day-long delays – then rail is not going to be able to compete with HGVs. But we want to create the framework conditions to ensure that trains can compete with HGVs. I should like to make four brief comments on my report. The first, Commissioner, is one on which I think we now agree. The Commission wanted to postpone the introduction of the special rail network for freight services in Europe, the so-called Trans-European Rail Freight Network, which the first railway package already states will come into being on 15 March 2003. We are against this and think that we need this special rail network on 15 March of this year so as to gain experience of cross-border freight transport. I hope that the Commission agrees. Secondly, we think that the aim set by the Commission of opening up the whole network to freight – both cross-border and national services – by 1 January 2006, as the Commissioner also indicated, should be clearly stated as from now, and not expressed as one-and-a-half years or two years after entry into force. We want everyone to know that on 1 January 2006 they can be prepared for the networks actually to be opened up to freight services. Thirdly, it is our view, Commissioner, that we also need to extend these rights to use rail for freight transport to other transport operators, not only the traditional railway undertakings or the new railway undertakings, but also the shippers and carriers. Because only if all the players in the sector are on board – and that includes the shippers and carriers – will we be able to transfer freight from road to rail. I therefore hope that you will also agree to the independent rights that we want to grant them. My final point, Commissioner, relates to something that you did not address just now, but I should in any case like to make this request. You said that the Commission did not want to table proposals to open up the networks to passenger services as well until 2003. We in Parliament are one step ahead of you and have said: no, we do not want there to be so much domestic air traffic in Europe and would prefer passengers to take cross-border passenger train services. We therefore also want the rail market in passenger services to be opened up. We are proposing making it possible for cross-border passenger services to operate from 1 January 2006, like freight services, and national passenger services at a later date, from 1 January 2008. Commissioner, it is precisely if we want to ensure that airspace is used sensibly that we need to attract more passengers onto the railways. I hope that you will support us in this. Two final comments on the Sterckx report: I think that this report on safety standards is so magnificent that all I can say is that its main points go to the heart of the matter, in that it makes the provisions more precise and advocates a high level of safety in the interests of passengers and staff. That is why we will be fully supporting this report. Finally, Commissioner, I hope that you agree with us that we should encourage the Greek Presidency actually to adopt the common positions in March so that we can move the procedure forward and perhaps conclude this chapter, on opening up the railways in the European Community, by the end of the year. Even if one or two Member States should have problems, the Community Treaty allows a decision to be taken by a majority in the Council of Ministers, and we should encourage the Greeks to take advantage of this possibility. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE