Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-16-Speech-4-180"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001116.10.4-180"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, the floods which have affected various areas of northern Italy and other European countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland and France in recent weeks once again raise the issue for Parliament both of an extraordinary, urgent intervention to alleviate the distress of the people, communities and companies affected, and a longer term policy to prevent the repetition of natural disasters of this scale.
Certain regions of Italy have suffered particularly badly for the second time in less than a month. The damage is considerable this time as well, people have died and the material damage has been enormous. In Liguria, in particular, entire plantations of specialised flower and fruit and vegetable crops have been destroyed and there has been a great deal of damage to seaside resorts, civil engineering works and factories, caused by storm surges as well as the floods. And given the remarkable scale of the disaster, the request made in the resolution which we tabled together with other groups is totally justified, despite the fact that these issues have been debated recently in this House – on 26 October to be precise – and that a Parliamentary resolution was adopted on that occasion as well.
We call upon the Commission to set aside part of its budget for emergency funds, so as to incorporate the interventions envisaged by the national authorities in the areas affected, and, pursuant to Article 87(2) of the Treaty on European Union, immediately to grant fitting financial assistance to the sectors affected by the disasters and, in general, to take into consideration the fact that the majority of the disaster areas are eligible for assistance from the existing funds: the Regional Fund, the EAGGF Guarantee Fund and the LIFE programme, which can provide a genuinely substantial contribution to the reconstruction work and restore the normal lives of the peoples who have been the victims of these disasters as soon as possible, but, above all, which can contribute to preventing further such damage.
It is vital that the Union does not restrict itself to making one-off interventions after disasters have occurred. Europe must remind the Member States to update their legislation on the environment, construction abuse, reforestation and the promotion of farming methods which seek not only to increase production quantities, but also to protect and replenish the land. Clearly, such large-scale action cannot be developed effectively at national level alone, due, primarily, to the amount of resources necessary but also because of the very nature of the natural disasters in question which, like those resulting from climate change, certainly have no respect for borders. With this resolution, we call for an urgent intervention contributing to repairing the damage and also for a longer-term policy to make Europe an increasingly safe and accommodating region for its citizens to live in."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples