Debate on the competitiveness of the European rail supply industry, during the EP plenary session (06-09 June) in Strasbourg. Statements by Martina WERNER (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, Christos STYLIANIDES, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Nadine MORANO (EPP, FR), Patrizia TOIA (S&amp;D, IT), Evzen TOSENOVSKY (ECR, CZ), Joao FERREIRA (GUE/NGL, PT) and David BORRELLI (EFDD, IT)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

TOIA, Patrizia (S&D, IT)

STYLIANIDES, Christos (CY, EC)

TOŠENOVSKÝ, Evžen (ECR, CZ)

FERREIRA, João (The Left, PT)

railway package (T)

MORANO, Nadine (EPP, FR)

BORRELLI, David (ALDE, IT)

Competitiveness of the European rail supply industry: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (German), Martina WERNER (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, The resolution calls for improving the market context for the rail industry so to create growth and new jobs. First of all we want the quick implementation of Shift2Rail regulation, it's also important to make available money from the joint undertaking specifically for rail. Secondly, SMEs also depend on dominant suppliers, they need more suppliers and more support to become more international. Third, for small countries the fragmentation of the market is an obstacle, the Gotthard tunnel was open last week and that's of huge symbolic importance; railway traffic has to be conceived in a cross border way.

SOUNDBITE (German), Martina WERNER (S&amp;D, DE), Rapporteur, The cross-cutting approach the Commission is providing, that's fair enough, but what we need is some kind of communication where you coherently lay out how you are going to achieve objectives and the strategic role of an important sector such as the railway network.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christos STYLIANIDES, Member of the EC in charge of Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, China has become an exporter of railway equipment, in particular to the development world. The Commission is in continuous dialogue with the Chinese authorities. We are requesting the inclusion of state-owned enterprises operating in the utility sector in China's offer in the context of the WTO negotiations. The accession of china to the agreement on government procurement will be an important step to ensure the application of transparent and non-discriminatory rules in procurement procedures.

SOUNDBITE (French), Nadine MORANO (EPP, FR), We see that there is a huge amount of public funds feeding Chinese companies. While China manufactures 200 high speed trains a year, in France we manufacture 12. We can see how easily China is penetrating our market but we do not have the same possibility to enter their markets and unfair competition in highly detrimental to our railway industry.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Patrizia TOIA (S&amp;D, IT), We are asking for what is missing: an industrial strategy, a strategy of mobility and a sustainable strategy that revolves around the rail manufacturing industry and clarifies once and for all where Europe is heading on this.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Ev&#382;en TO&#352;ENOVSK&#221; (ECR, CZ), Our railway network needs more investment. If we look at the map I think that we should pay more attention to the potential of the high speed railways in the central and Eastern Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Jo&#227;o FERREIRA (GUE/NGL, PT), It is exactly the privatisation and liberalisation policies which are at the root causes of the decline of the railway sector in a number of EU countries. This has led to the dismantling of lots of factories throughout Europe and has promoted the monopolistic concentration which resulted in the job loss of thousands of workers.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), David BORRELLI (EFDD, IT), If in this sector, as in many others, China is the public enemy number 1, we cannot allow the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade high speed rail line to be done by China without transparency. Obviously in this sector as well recognition of market economy status for China is going to have a major impact. We have the technology and the know-how; we must request and reinforce the principle of reciprocity and symmetrical access to third party markets. In the next few years America, Africa and Asia will see an upgrade of their railway infrastructure and the European Commission has to plan a strong coordinated industrial policy allowing European businesses to be key players in these markets.