Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-06-14-Speech-3-334"
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"en.20000614.12.3-334"2
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by thanking, on behalf of the Commission, the European Parliament for the quality of this report and congratulating the rapporteur, Mr Marset Campos, on his report on the Commission communication on the Action Plan for the Reconstruction of Central America. I am also grateful for the support and confidence that Parliament has given the Commission on the implementation of this important Community Action Plan.
Since the issue has been raised by several speakers, I should like to take this opportunity to guarantee that the financing of Kosovo will not be to the detriment of money allocated to Latin America, and definitely not to this specific programme.
Additional measures have been adopted by the Commission in the framework of the Community Action Plan. These include the European Community contribution to the HIPC debt initiative, and approval of an improved General System of Preferences Scheme for Central America and Council Regulation of 21 December 1998 applying a multiannual scheme of generalised tariff preferences has been extended to 31 December 2001. In addition, the Commission is taking part in the HIPC debt initiative, contributing some EUR 50m to both Honduras and Nicaragua.
The EUR 250m regional programme for the reconstruction of Central America, spread over four years, will contribute to the reconstruction and the transformation of the four countries most devastated by Hurricane Mitch – Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The programme is based on the principle of sustainable development, as has been underlined by several speakers. It provides for assistance in education, vocational training, public health and social housing. The primary beneficiaries will be those who live in extremely disadvantaged rural areas where the consequences of the disaster are most acute. Attention will be paid in particular to the indigenous peoples and to reducing vulnerability to this kind of catastrophe in the future.
The Commission is aware that the success of such an ambitious and complex programme also depends on the degree of coordination among the various actors present. A coordination group is being set up between the Commission and the Member States.
Another important element will be the Stockholm Follow-up Group. Until now the Commission has always been involved in an informal way in the activities carried out by this group.
In order to ensure maximum transparency, the Commission will submit an annual report on the progress of the RPRCA to the Member States and Parliament. A first report of the activities carried out by the Commission has been distributed among the parliamentary Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy.
Following the initial emergency and other post-Mitch aid, we are now actively preparing the implementation of this reconstruction programme. The mobilisation of the statutory personnel necessary for decentralised management and implementation of the programme certainly delayed the rapid launch of the programme, as has been emphasised by several speakers. These problems have now been overcome. The first official will arrive in Managua on 17 July and the remaining officials in the following weeks. No further delays are expected at this point. The Commission is taking all necessary steps so that the programme can be in place and operational within the following three months.
I quite understand the arguments Mr Salafranca raised about human resources. As you know, it is not a question specific to this debate. However, you should bear in mind that for the Kosovo programme we set up a specific agency. In the case of this programme we had to deal with the staff who were available, due to the constraints of human resources.
Let me stress – and I share the view of Mr Salafranca and others – that the amount of time it has taken to get this aid to the region is wholly unacceptable. We cited it as an example in our recent proposals for the overall reform of our external assistance programmes. It is just another reason why the Commission, and Commissioner Patten in particular, is so determined that we should drive forward those reforms so that we stop letting others and ourselves down in this way."@en1
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