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the common position includes practically all of the amendments accepted by the commission and harmonises the minimum examination requirements for safety advisers and at second reading we can accept the amendment on the proposed date which is much more realistic than the one originally suggested by the commission bearing in mind that we have now spent several years debating this question

very briefly i would like to thank the various members for their interventions and to tell you that safety is one of the commission' s priorities in the field of transport

as mr simpson has said very correctly this is a process which we can never take for granted or regard as having come to an end

the process of increasing safety margins and safety guarantees in transport is a process which must be improved day by day

in this regard i would also like to refer very briefly to the problems of the tunnels which messrs rack and swoboda have referred to which in the case of austria is doubtless a very sensitive issue and great effort should be made to improve their safety

in one of the worst accidents to have occurred recently the goods being transported were not dangerous in themselves

margarine and a few kilos of paint which in principle do not present risks led to a genuine disaster

therefore we will have to see how the requirements guaranteeing the maximum degree of safety can be further improved

finally i would like to say that we have to consider safety in all types of transport

this week we will be holding a debate here on the safety of sea transport in light of the erika disaster and in the course of this year we will have to discuss our objectives in terms of the safety of air transport

but i would like to say that safety is a priority objective for the commission

as i will say in the debate on the erika disaster we do not wait until there is a disaster to deal with the question of safety but we work on it even when there are no such circumstances which simply serve to demonstrate the urgency for an effective response to this type of problem

i would like to repeat my appreciation to all the speakers and especially to the rapporteur mr koch

the debate is closed

the vote will take place tomorrow at 12 pm

transport of dangerous goods by road

the next item is the report (a50104/1999) by mr koch on behalf of the committee on regional policy transport and tourism on the proposal for a european parliament and council directive amending directive 94/55/ec on the approximation of the laws of the member states with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road [com(1999) 158 c50004/1999 1999/0083(cod)]

mr president commissioner ladies and gentlemen the directive on the approximation of the laws of the member states with regard to the transport of dangerous goods by road which entered into force on 1 january 1997 contains a number of transitional provisions which are only valid for a limited period of time the term of validity being linked to the completion of specific standardisation work by the cen that is the european committee for standardisation

delays in the cen' s work are now making it difficult to apply this very directive

in particular annexes cannot be adapted to take account of technical and industrial developments

i regret this since we are having to take action because others have not done their job

in this respect i accept this proposal to amend directive 94/55/ec which has been tabled for discussion today

should the european union fail to take action then member states would be obliged to amend their national legislation for a very brief period until the cen completes its work which would cause unnecessary cost and uncertainty

the amendment to the directive on today's agenda does not therefore affect the existing harmonisation of the transport of dangerous goods in the community

it merely prolongs transitional rules by postponing deadlines deletes provisions which are no longer applicable and lays down the procedures for a) carrying out the ad hoc transportation of dangerous goods and b) enacting less stringent national regulations in particular for the transport of very small amounts of dangerous goods within strictly defined local areas

the amendment to the directive is consequently in full accordance with the principle of subsidiarity the member states obtain more powers

the commission decides whether the member states may impose certain rules of their own

in so doing it is supported by a committee of experts on the transport of dangerous goods under the regulatory procedure

the procedures for the exercise of these implementing powers conferred on the commission were laid down afresh in the council decision of june 1999

the proposal to be discussed today to amend the directive on the transport of dangerous goods by road dates from may 1999 however and could not therefore take account of the latest comitology procedure

two of the amendments tabled and adopted unanimously by the committee relate precisely to this amended comitology procedure

we would like to ensure that there is a reference to this as early as the recitals and that the period within which the council has to make a decision which is not clearly worded is set at a maximum of three months

in addition the need for greater transparency has been pointed out

a further amendment allows the member states to impose more stringent requirements in particular for vacuum tanks if work is done or goods are transported as a priority in temperatures well below 20ºc

this is in the special interest of northern european regions

a final amendment is intended to ensure that tanks and tankers put into service between 1 january 1997 and the entry into force of this directive may continue to be used provided that they have been constructed and maintained in accordance with it

i do realise that this is only a small step towards increased transport safety but i would ask you to endorse this report

mr president colleagues a happy new year and millennium to you all

i am speaking for the first time in this plenary partsession so this is quite exciting for me a little like first love although that did last longer than two minutes

i would like to briefly comment on the commission' s proposal to amend the directive on the transport of dangerous goods by road

it is good that this directive should be established now as otherwise member states would have to amend their national acts for a very short time a period of transition which would again mean unnecessary costs and which would once more increase concern with regard to eu bureaucracy

the commission' s proposal however does not take account of all the facts such as the cold climate that prevails in the northern regions

consequently i have tabled some amendments to mr koch' s intrinsically excellent report which have been adopted by our committee

my amendments concern the frostresistance ratings for tankers carrying these dangerous goods

according to the commission' s proposal 20ºc would have been sufficient

on the shores of the mediterranean it is hard to imagine that in lapland temperatures can fall considerably lower than that

there is support for the eu in lapland also so let us remember them

i have thus proposed that the frost rating be lowered to 40ºc

this would be necessary to keep safety standards at the level they were in northern regions previously

i hope my proposal will be taken into consideration in tomorrow' s vote

mr president with your permission i should like to begin by expressing my admiration for the way in which you executed the quick changeover of the chairmanship just now during the debate i thought that it was quite superb

on the subject at hand i think that the people of europe must be able to be confident that the goods however dangerous they are which are transported on europe's roads railways and so on are as safe as possible

this directive is a contribution to this

what we are doing today is essentially a nuisance

the rapporteur mr koch to whom we express our thanks for the work which he has done on this has already pointed out that basically everything could have been somewhat more advanced had it not been for the inactivity on the part of the cen which has been very dilatory in drawing up and adapting the directive

that is why we can only hope and we should resolve all of this this week that in 2001 we will finally have community regulations for the transport of dangerous goods by road so that we have a degree of legal certainty here and also so that our roads are a good deal safer

mr president the report we are discussing here does not in itself entail any major changes

most of the proposed amendments are of a purely technical nature

it is nonetheless worth emphasising that each time we make this type of decision it is good from a broad environmental perspective and it is beneficial because it creates better prior conditions for exploiting the possibilities of the internal market

very large quantities of dangerous goods are transported around the eu both on roads and railways and by sea

this makes it necessary to have proper rules governing transport of this kind

in area after area we are now obtaining common minimum regulations for the member states this is extraordinarily positive and there is cause to thank the rapporteur mr koch for the work he has put in on this issue

this is also important where the prerequisites for the internal market are concerned

if we are to get a common transport market genuinely up and running it is important that we should not only have regulations but that these regulations should also as far as possible apply to every country

i should like to conclude by commenting on a third matter which is also of significance namely an amendment tabled by member of parliament mr ari vatanen

in many ways the prerequisites differ from one member state to another

by approving this amendment we take account of the fact that it can be very cold in the northern parts of the european union this makes it necessary to also take account of the ways in which materials and packaging are affected by cold of this kind

it is good that in establishing the present regulations we can also be flexible

i hope that the commission is able to accept the present amendment

mr president i would like to thank not only mr koch but also the vicepresident of the commission for the clear and unambiguous way in which they have declared their support for safety in the transport sector and acknowledged it as a priority

the reason mr koch produced his sound report was because the work in the cen and within the united nations economic commission was proceeding none too expeditiously

i would like to ask the vicepresident if she is in a position to tell us today what the state of play is with regard to the efforts towards harmonisation being made by these two organisations and whether the eu is in a position to hasten these harmonisation efforts in accordance with principles that are as simple as possible

for one thing is clear even if we come to an excellent arrangement within the european union traffic does not stop at our borders it goes beyond them

hence there is certainly every reason to introduce more farreaching regional provisions

if the commissioner is unable to do so today then would she be prepared to inform the committee in writing of how matters stand and what stage negotiations between the cen and the economic commission are at

mr president i would once again like to congratulate mr koch on his magnificent work on this other report which in a way supplements the debate which we held in october on rail transport

we all regret that the european committee for standardisation (cen) has not been able in the required time to carry out the amendment of the provisions necessary for the required harmonisation within the european union

this debate and the amendment of the directive currently in force allow us to incorporate differentiating elements which demonstrate the diversity of this europe of ours

a moment ago mr vatanen spoke to us of lower temperatures not of 20 degrees below zero but of 40 degrees below zero

of course we accept that amendment it is absolutely right and i believe that we should incorporate specific circumstances which demonstrate the climatic diversity of the european union which sometimes take the form of specifics and of concrete requirements for the establishment of standards and characterisations of a technical nature

i would like to say with regard to mr swoboda' s comments on the activity of the cen that we are urging them to speed up their work as much as possible because it would be terrible if despite the new deadline we were to find ourselves after a year and a bit with the same difficulties because their work has not been concluded

lastly mr president the basic problems justifying this amendment of the directive have been pointed out we have referred to the delay by the cen the amendment of certain provisions the consistency between the text of the directive and the content of the annexes and the need to for it to be more specific

the commission accepts all of the contributions of the parliamentary committee and the rapporteur mr koch which are contained in the various amendments specifically four

we therefore accept the four amendments which have been proposed

the debate is closed

the vote will take place tomorrow at 12 pm

structural funds cohesion fund coordination

the next item is the report (a50108/1999) by mrs schroedter on behalf of the committee on regional policy transport and tourism on the communication from the commission in the field of the structural funds and their coordination with the cohesion fund guidelines for programmes in the period 20002006 [com(1999)344 c50122/1999 1999/2127(cos)]

mr president it is particularly pleasing for me to make my first speech in the european parliament on what is regarded as the most important issue within that part of the united kingdom that i represent in this parliament namely wales

a major part of wales as you know has been granted objective 1 status under the structural funds programme

it is quite clear that many people within wales are looking to the european structural funds programme to alleviate some of the great difficulties that we undoubtedly face

we have seen poverty growing in wales and growing still further since 1997

we have seen the gap between rich and poor widen

we are looking therefore within the structural funds programme not just to see industrial restructuring but also to see a wider improvement in the whole of the economic base within the principality

what is however deeply damaging for us is the belief that in some way the granting of structural funds assistance is something that has been in a sense a success of the government

it is sadly only a recognition of the very great difficulties that wales faces

that is why i want to highlight some of the issues that i believe the commission must have at the forefront

we look to the commission to deal with points in relation to additionality

we are dissatisfied with the fact that those figures seem to have been in some way hidden within uk figures

we look to the commission also to ensure that there is matched funding for projects