Madam President, the report which I have the honour to present to Parliament this evening proposes new legislation governing the investigation of air accidents. It is primarily concerned with ensuring that air accidents are investigated to uniformly high standards throughout the whole Union. An equally important element of the legislation will be to establish procedures for distributing the results of the investigations as widely as possible.
Air accidents often result in loss of life. The purpose of the subsequent investigations is to determine the cause of the accident and, if possible, to try to ensure that similar accidents do not occur again. Clearly it is vitally important that the results of the investigations are made available as quickly as possible to all interested parties. A welcome new initiative in the legislation is the suggestion that serious accidents and incidents should be rigorously investigated. This could, in turn, eliminate problems before they cause accidents.
The overall aims of the legislation and the detailed proposals contained in the common position of the Council of Ministers are generally acceptable to Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism and, I believe, to the Commission as well. Many of the amendments which had been proposed by the last Parliament have now been incorporated in the Council's common position. I am therefore recommending to Parliament that we should support the common position subject to a few amendments which reflect Parliament's first reading position and which, I believe, will strengthen the legislation without in any way altering the overriding aim of the proposal before us this evening.
By adopting this legislation the European Union will make a real contribution to the development of safer air transport, not just within the Union itself, but indeed throughout the world. The proposal to enact legislation requiring the investigation of serious incidents is a new development in the international air transport sector. I believe that other international agencies which have a role to play in regulating air transport should follow the lead now being set by the European Union and introduce similar procedures in their areas of responsibility. By identifying problems before an accident involving loss of life can occur we can ensure that air travel will be an even safer method of transport in the future.
There are some Members whom I would like to thank in the Committee on Transport and Tourism for their contributions as well as Members who have come here at this late hour in order to make their contribution. I wish to thank them for it. I would also like to express a word of thanks to the staff of the committee who have helped me, because I inherited this report from the old committee. Above all, I would like to thank the Commissioner, Mr Oreja and his staff, his coordinator and the members of the Commission staff and secretariat who helped to make this possible.
It is a good report and one which I recommend to Parliament. I hope it will get the due vote tomorrow to put it into action. It is not as strong as I personally would like it, but it is as strong as I could possibly make it.
