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See Also:
Motions
Reports
General Speeches |
Debate:
Situation in Japan, including the nuclear power plant alerts
Giles Chichester, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, let me
express my admiration for the stoic Japanese resilience in the face of these
mighty forces of nature. We must remember the extraordinary strength of the
earthquake and of the tsunami.
I welcome the precautionary stress tests on European nuclear power plants,
while remembering that the nuclear industry is already the most regulated
and safety conscious in the world, and I note the statement earlier this
year from WENRA, the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association, about
making new reactors even safer than our existing ones. It is salutary to
compare the safety records of the coal, oil and hydroelectric industries
with that of the nuclear industry, in terms of accidents involving loss of
life.
Madam President, I see a silver lining in this awful cloud for Japan –
namely that the rebuilding and restoration work in that country, courtesy of
the deep pockets of the insurance industry, should give a huge boost to
their economy and that will be good for the rest of the world.
I thank the Minister and the Commissioner for their thoughtful remarks and I
would say to Member States, and everyone else: do not go wobbly on nuclear
power now, we need it too much.
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Debate: Security and prevention measures on
offshore oil platforms in the EU (debate)
Giles Chichester, on behalf of the ECR Group. – Madam President, I welcome the
statement from the Commissioner. The world has watched in amazement, both at
the immense flow of gas and oil from the ruptured pipe following the explosion
and disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and at the seeming inability of both the
industry and the US authorities to stem the flow; we must hope that recent
developments will prove successful.
We have had, as colleagues have mentioned, our own experience of platform
disasters in the North Sea. I think of Piper Alpha as one example, and I
believe that lessons have been learned from that. But let us remember that
there is a significant difference between the depth of sea in which they are
operating in the Gulf of Mexico and the depth of the North Sea. Let me urge
that we are cautious and do not rush into new legislation. Let us be certain
as to what happened. Let us be certain whether our existing rules would have
prevented it happening here, and let us be certain that any new rules would
prevent it happening.
Accidents and acts of God do happen, and we cannot guarantee to prevent them.
There has to be a limit to what we can do in order to prevent them. I would
like to give you a final thought, when we are considering relative risk: that
accidents like this put the relative safety of nuclear energy into a different
perspective.
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Common rules for the internal market in
electricity - Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators - Access to the
network: cross-border exchanges in electricity - Internal market in natural
gas - Conditions for access to the natural gas transmission networks - Fuel
efficiency: labelling of tyres - The energy performance of buildings (debate)
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Common rules for the internal market in
electricity - Agency for the Cooperation
of Energy Regulators - Access to the network: cross-border exchanges in
electricity -
Internal market in natural gas - Conditions for access to the natural gas
transmission
networks - Fuel efficiency: labelling of tyres - The energy performance of
buildings (debate) (2)
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Statute for a European private company -
Cross-borders transfers of companies'
registered offices - Small Business Act - Workers' participation in companies
with
a European Statute (debate)
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Gas supplies by Russia to Ukraine and the EU
(debate)
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Steps towards improving the environment for SMEs
in Europe -
Small Business Act (debate)
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European Space Policy: How to bring space down to
earth (debate)
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EU response to the world financial crisis:
follow-up of the informal European
Council from 7 November and of the G20 Summit from 15 November 2008 -
Commission's legislative and work programme for 2009 (debate)
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European Council meeting (15-16 October 2008)
(debate)
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Getting a grip on energy prices (debate)
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Internal market in electricity - Conditions for
access to the network for cross-border
exchanges in electricity - Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators -
Towards a European Charter on the Rights of Energy Consumers (debate)
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Explanations of vote
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Results of the European Council (Brussels, 13-14
March 2008) (debate)
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Preparation of the European Council (Brussels,
13-14 March 2008) (debate)
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Explanations of vote
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Debate on the future of Europe (debate)
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Explanations of vote Fiona Hall- Energy Efficiency
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Proposals on energy and climate change (debate)
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Presentation of the programme of the Slovenian
Presidency (debate)
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Results of the European Council meeting of 13 and
14 December 2007 in Brussels -
Report on the six months of the Portuguese Presidency (debate)
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Preparation of the European Council (Brussels,
13-14 December 2007) (debate)
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Commission legislative programme and work
programme for 2008 (debate)
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Statutes for the Euratom Supply Agency (debate)
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Road Map for renewable energy in Europe (debate)
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Broadband (debate)
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Roaming on public mobile networks (debate)
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Advanced therapy medicinal products (debate)
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Increase in energy prices (debate)
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Research, technological development and
demonstration activities (2007-2013, FP7) (vote)
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Implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme
of the EC and the EAEC (debate)
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A Baltic Sea Strategy for the Northern Dimension
(debate)
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European electricity network breakdown (debate)
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Nanosciences and nanotechnology (debate)
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Energy efficiency (Green Paper) (debate)
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Conclusion of the energy Community Treaty – Treaty establishing the Energy Community for south-east Europe (debate)
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Explanations of vote Security of Energy Supply
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Security of energy supply in the European Union
(debate)
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Explanations of vote
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Security of energy supplies, particularly gas
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Explanations of vote Renewables
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Oil
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Security of electricity supply and infrastructure
investment
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Port security
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Alternative forms of energy
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EU resources for research
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River Traffic Information Services
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