Why was an EU committee meeting on motorcycle type approval dismissed by committee members?

On 28 February MEP Wim van de Camp, as Rapporteur, presented his report to The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and representatives of the European Commission regarding the EU Commission's proposal for a regulation on type approval and market surveillance of L (motorcycles) - category vehicles. The committee meeting was broadcast live on the internet and, unlike the previous meeting which was chaired by UK MEP Malcolm Harbour, it did not probe into the issues and some committee members admitted they were standing in for colleagues, that they were not experts and had written statements to read in response to the report.

In fact the meeting was running late and one question that was asked at the end was refused a reply by the chair with the dismissive, "we are too busy - move onto the next item". The whole affair for those passionate and concerned with the future of motorcycling was nothing short of bland. Instead of being interspersed with searching questions and relevant comments, it was a grey suited affair of safety and environmental rhetoric. To view this article on Right To Ride EU including our full response visit - http://www.righttoride.eu/?p=6722

Asked on 23 February 2011 by EH, via email

Answered by Honest John
A lot of this EC legislation is lobbied for by the component industry that stands to make fortunes from it. That's why the Eurocrats just sleepwalk through the meetings. Civil servants often behave like that when they are forced to go to a lip service meeting, knowing full well that the legislation will be pushed through anyway. I’ve been in such meetings.
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