Accueil Alex AGIUS SALIBA

I have voted in favour of the proposal to amend Directive 2016/798 as regards the application of railway safety in order to deal specifically with the situation of the Channel Fixed Link after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. The Treaty between France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland signed at Canterbury on the 12th February 1986 established an Intergovernmental Commission to supervise all matters concerning the construction and the operation of the Channel Fixed Link. To ensure the safe and efficient operation of the Channel Fixed Link, it would be beneficial to retain the Intergovernmental Commission as the single safety authority responsible for the whole infrastructure. To this end it is necessary to adapt this Directive.

I have voted in favour of the proposal to empower France to negotiate an agreement supplementing its existing bilateral Treaty with the UK concerning the construction and operation by private concessionaires of a Channel Fixed Link. The aim of the proposal is to authorise France to negotiate an international agreement supplementing the Treaty of Canterbury to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the Channel Fixed Link; guarantee that the Intergovernmental Commission will remain the single safety authority and will continue to apply the Union rules on railway safety; and ensure that when disputes raise questions related to the interpretation of Union law, the arbitral should refer the matter to the Court of Justice. Under the current treaty of Canterbury, disputes between France and the UK are settled by an arbitration tribunal.

I have voted in favour of the proposal to amend Regulation, which aims to establish a new regulatory framework to ensure the smooth functioning of the internal market as regards organic production in order to develop further an overall system of farm management and food production that combines best environmental and climate action practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and the application of high animal welfare standards and high production standards in line with the demand of a growing number of consumers for products using natural substances and processes. Organic production thus plays a dual societal role, where, on the one hand, it provides for a specific market responding to consumer demand for organic products, and, on the other hand, it delivers publicly available goods that contribute to the protection of the environment and animal welfare, as well as to rural development.