Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-18-Speech-2-161"
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"en.20000118.6.2-161"2
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"Mr President, the storms which devastated France during the night between 26 and 27 December have caused, as has been said, 90 deaths and damage to a value of FF 75 billion, i.e. EUR 11 billion. Almost three weeks after the disaster, several thousand people were still without electricity and telephones, 500 000 hectares of forestry land, or 100 million cubic metres of forest, have been ruined, and our historical heritage has also been affected, as the sad example of the park at the Palace of Versailles demonstrates.
It seems quite natural that given such a disaster, national and European solidarity should go to the help of the devastated regions and those people who have been worst affected. As the previous speakers have said, and as you said, Commissioner, in response to my fellow Member, Mr Martinez, with regard to another tragedy, the floods in November in the Southwest of France, you have certainly noted these disasters with concern, but all you are doing is pointing out that the budget line for emergency appropriations for natural disasters has been discontinued, which has resulted in this shocking paradox. This paradox, pointed out by the previous speaker, is that it is easier, a great deal easier, to offer help to victims of natural disasters outside the Union than within it.
We know full well that what you are doing, Commissioner, and that is, limiting yourself to giving us the hypothetical and remote possibility of benefiting from the Structural Funds of the new Objective 2 or from the provisional Objectives 2 or 5b. These are the terms of the written answer you gave Mr Martinez on 11 January 2000. I can show you a copy if you wish. We would understand completely if you were not able to say anything else given the irresponsible attitude not only of the Commission, but also of this Parliament, and if you cannot do anything because there is no legal or financial framework for doing so. But for pity’s sake, and I am not saying this to you in an aggressive way, please do not present appropriations which have previously been earmarked under an unrelated regional policy as aid for victims of the storms.
As a matter of urgency, therefore, we must restore, within the framework of a supplementary budget, the budget line which was allocated to us for natural disasters. We must use the Berlin Summit aid appropriations and we must change the forestry policy implemented in most countries in the Union. That, however, is another problem altogether."@en1
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