madam president i would like to thank mrs stihler for her hard work
it has been a very long road
in europe today the construction sector directly employs twelve million eu citizens
in addition approximately ninety-two of the manufacturers of construction materials are small and medium-sized enterprises this amounts to over sixty-five zero individual businesses
clearly the construction sector is vital for the european economy and we have a responsibility to the industry to help support it especially after the economic crisis
there are many aspects of this report which produced something of a stalemate between many of us such as the nature of eu legislation
it is not perfect it is a compromise
key issues included the declaration of performance or ce marking where a successful agreement was made to ensure micro-enterprises do not face the same burdens as larger companies
on tackling and identifying hazardous substances in construction products we managed to broker a compromise ensuring no conflict with existing reach regulations
i hope that this second-reading agreement will have real results and will encourage the free movement of construction products improve standards across the eu and promote the recycling of construction products in future whilst most importantly not increasing bureaucratic burdens on businesses or confusing consumers
