mr president when you consider the ambitions we had just a few months ago for reducing co emissions from cars these proposals are deeply disappointing
they let down the environment they let down car drivers who are going to be forced to pay more to use vehicles which use excessive quantities of fuel and they even let down the european car industry which will be at risk of being overtaken by more innovative competitors
the argument is that the car industry is in financial crisis
but nothing we do no proposals we make no legislation we put into practice now will make any difference at all to the current situation of the industry
all we would be doing is telling the car designers to sit down in front of their computers and start building and designing the cars of the future
this legislation is sad
it is bad
and given that the international energy agency has just predicted that oil reserves across the world will peak within ten years it might even be described as completely mad
i shall not vote for it
