WRITTEN QUESTION E-3531/03 by Rijk van Dam (EDD) to the Council. Statements by the President of the Transport Council after the informal Transport Council in Verona.
Date: 2003-11-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, common transport policy, ministerial meeting, motorway, road safety, speed control, transport accident

C 84 E/246

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.4.2004

(2004/C 84 E/0291)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3531/03

by Rijk van Dam (EDD) to the Council

(28 November 2003)

Subject: Statements by the President of the Transport Council after the informal Transport Council

in

Verona

After the informal ministerial meeting of Transport Ministers in Verona, at which safety on motorways was
considered, the President of the Transport Council, Mr Lunardi, suggested that the speed limit on certain
motorways in Italy should be raised experimentally to 150 km/h.

Is the President of the Transport Council aware of the Commission’s plans in the field of road safety,

1.
as set out in the White Paper on ‘European transport policy for 2010’?

2.
Does the President of the Transport Council agree with the objectives stated in the White Paper
regarding the number of people killed on the roads in the period up to 2010, namely that the number
should be halved from approximately 40 000 to approximately 20 000?

3.
Does the President of the Transport Council consider that the experiment he proposes would
contribute to the objectives of the White Paper as regards the number of people killed on the roads? If so,
how?

Reply

(9 March 2004)

The Council would remind the Honourable Member that it does not comment on public statements of the
kind referred to in the question.

(2004/C 84 E/0292)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3533/03

by Christine De Veyrac (PPE-DE) to the Council

(28 November 2003)

Subject: European Space Policy (cid:1) budget

On 27 November 2003 the Competitiveness Council will meet to consider the Commission’s White Paper
on European space policy.

At a time when our space industry is going through a difficult period, when the United States is stepping
up its investment in civil and military research, when several emerging countries (China, Brazil and India)
are gradually joining the ranks of the space powers and when discussions are beginning on the Union’s
financial perspective for 2007-2013, the European Union must assert its ambitions.

The development of space technologies will have major implications: it will strengthen our economic
competitiveness, provide the necessary resources for an independent defence and security policy, improve
our environmental control capacity, reduce the digital divide, etc. To these practical applications should be
added a clear financial benefit: all the relevant surveys show that one euro invested in space applications
generates a turnover of EUR 7 to EUR 8.

These factors would justify an unprecedented investment in the field of space technology, an investment
which has consistently been supported by Europe’s political representatives.

Given the above, does the Council intend to support the commitment to space technology called for
jointly by Parliament and the Commission?