Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-18-Speech-2-173"
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"en.20000118.6.2-173"2
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".
Mr President, I would first like to thank you for proposing to extend this debate in order to see it through. Next, I would like to say that as a Commissioner, but also as a French citizen, I have been very touched by the expressions of sympathy and solidarity that I have heard from many European Members of Parliament from throughout the Union. We can therefore see, thanks to this debate, a picture of the Europe which I believe in, one which is not merely a supermarket, but which is also a place of humanism. I would like to thank Mrs Scallon, Mr Martin, Mr McCartin, Mrs González Álvarez and Mr Savary who have, in particular, taken up or supported the idea which I am putting forward for a more united, more operational, more easily understood response, for civil security or civil protection. This could be achieved by creating a European civil security force, and we shall continue to advance this idea, which we shall keep you informed of in the coming months.
Many of you (and I listened closely to Mrs Gebhardt, Mrs Patrie, Mrs Isler Béguin, Mr Souchet, Mr Gollnisch, and Mr Savary) have said that there is not enough money or rather that there is no extra money. But, I have been a parliamentarian for a long time, and I shall not tell you your job, as you know how the budget and the general regulation of the Structural Funds work. You voted for this budget and therefore you understand perfectly well the framework in which I operate. I am not going to pull the wool over your eyes. I want to discharge my responsibilities seriously. This does not mean that I think it is in fact impossible to reintroduce an emergency aid line in any rigorous way with a very strict specification. This line only ever consisted of a few million euros in any case. That would not have any effect on the scale of the disasters and their consequences from which we are currently suffering.
You know this budget. This is the framework in which I have to operate and I try, as I am responsible, together with Mrs Diamantopoulou, for Objective 3, and with Mr Fischler for the EAGGF, to ensure that when we respond to these disasters immediately and in the medium term we are able to use this European money as efficiently as possible. I am therefore not opposed to changes to these budgetary rules, and perhaps at the next budget, we will discuss this again, particularly in order to establish, at least in symbolic terms, the emergency line which was discontinued two years ago.
In the meantime, there is a great deal of money and, Mr Gollnisch, I cannot allow you to say that it will be used in some remote, hypothetical time. This money is available now, this year. If the national authorities do their job properly, and I am sure that they will, we will be able to raise appropriations for specific problems and projects from the middle of 2000 and in the next few years. This money is plentiful, even if it cannot, according to Objective 2, cover all the areas affected. In particular, it could be made use of, and I am saying this to Mr Liese, to Mrs Mathieu – and I did not mention a policy in its infancy where forestry is concerned, Mrs Mathieu – to Mrs Keppelhoff-Wiechert and to Mrs Schierhuber. In addition to Objective 2, as regards forestry, a subject which I consider to be extremely important, that is the restoration of our forestry heritage, there are opportunities, apart from zoning, which the substantial appropriations from the EAGGF “Guarantee” section have made possible.
Finally, I would like to say – or repeat – that not all of these disasters necessarily have natural causes. I say this with great humility. Some of you are extremely knowledgeable and competent in these matters, even if, in the past, I have happened to write several works on ecological and environmental issues. Indeed I think that through political will, we could limit the consequences of certain disasters. I think that this applies in the case of both floods and storms. Mr Kronberger, Mr Messner and Mrs González Álvarez mentioned the important issues of climate, and I would like to say that there is probably, somewhere, a link between the consequences of these natural disasters and the policies, for which Europe must remain one of the driving forces for prevention, in terms of the major environmental issues.
I would like to thank you, Mr President, and Parliament, for giving the Commission the opportunity to state its views. We shall now work, within the framework of the budget and the current rules, to ensure that the available appropriations, which you have made available to us, are used in the most constructive and rapid way, in order to deal with the consequences of these disasters. They must also provide an economic, political and human response to families that have been seriously affected by them."@en1
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