Text tabled : A7-0208/2011

  Vilja Savisaar-Toomast (ALDE), in writing. – (ET) Today’s decision by the European Parliament in favour of adopting this report is an important step towards increasing road safety. The directive introduced in the report makes it easier for the Member States to discipline road users and to encourage them to follow road traffic rules. Unfortunately, the amendment on correlation tables was not supported. On 30 June, the Conference of Presidents unanimously decided that correlation tables must be used in all directives. Clearly, the Presidents are not always entirely of the same mind as the Members, and the necessary consensus was not achieved. I hope that in the future, agreements will be reached and such situations will no longer arise. Undoubtedly, the Council’s role in this matter cannot be underestimated; in any case, it does not want to include correlation tables in any legal act, nor to report when different legal acts come into effect. The adoption of the directive is highly necessary and important in order to increase road safety and reduce road deaths. It is therefore not rational for the Council, out of stubbornness, not to adopt it. Despite the shortcomings contained in the report, then, I supported its adoption.