mr president thank you for your forbearance
after much debate over its first report the commission submitted a revised proposal last january the aim of which is to contribute to making the eu a highly energy-efficient and low-greenhouse-gas-emitting economy through the promotion of clean and energy-efficient vehicles
this policy is in line with several other proposals including those under the climate and energy package
in my view the directive would accelerate the take-up of cleaner and more efficient vehicles while creating a market dynamic in favour of such vehicles
the council has amended the draft proposal and redefined the scope to ensure coherence with the public procurement directives
it has furthermore introduced more flexibility as regards options
the draft directive now applies to the purchase of vehicles by contracting authorities and various parties and operators for the purposes of the public procurement directives and by operators of public passenger transport services under the public service obligation pso regulation
it requires the authorities concerned either to include requirements relating to energy consumption co emissions and emissions of other pollutants in the tender specification or include such impact in the criteria for award of the contract
i support the general approach which gives a choice of options for taking into account lifetime costs and also allows flexibility as to the weighting given to the lifetime costs in award criteria
furthermore the directive will sit well with the sustainability agenda which would demand that the cleanest of vehicles possible always be required
might i suggest that this directive might be an important addition to the non-trading agenda of member states to reduce co emissions in our general thrust in the climate and energy package
the directive will apply to all vehicles purchased by government departments local authorities and state bodies with of course the exception of emergency vehicles rescue and military vehicles
i have been assured that many of these bodies already factor lifecycle costs including fuel costs into the criteria for procurement
it is estimated that the effective cost including emissions would be small in overall cost terms
i am not a fan of red tape and this proposal has no new administrative hurdles to quote commissioner tajani himself
but action is needed at every level if we are to transform our economies into the low-carbon economies we so desperately need
for these reasons i support the proposal
