Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-03-Speech-2-149"
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"en.20020903.6.2-149"2
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"Mr President, it goes without saying that we welcome the Commission's initiative to help those who have sustained damage in the flood disaster speedily and without bureaucracy. We believe, though, that the aid measures put forward by the Commission at the present time will, unfortunately, prove to be inadequate to help the victims to a sufficient extent. Moreover, the funds are to some extent granted on the basis of unequal criteria.
We are deeply affected by the extent of these disastrous floods. In Austrian regions alone, over 10 000 homes have been destroyed, innumerable bridges and roads have been destroyed or have sustained major damage, with the infrastructure of communities and regions suffering serious consequential damage. Hundreds of businesses were seriously affected by the floods, their plant and buildings badly damaged or wrecked. In Upper Austria alone, thousands of jobs have been affected or put at risk by the flood disaster.
The overall extent of the damage is increasing on a virtually daily basis, as we get a better overview of the degree to which the regions have been adversely affected. It is currently assumed that the total damage will amount to over EUR 800 billion, which means, as has already been frequently said, that the sum of EUR 500 million proposed by the EU as emergency aid will not be sufficient. We are therefore working on the basis that at least EUR 1 billion will be allocated to emergency aid measures.
In this context, we would also remind you that a surplus for the year 2000 totalling EUR 11.6 billion has just been repaid to the Member States. If billions are again repaid to the Member States in respect of 2002, it will not look good from where we stand, as the people affected by the floods will take it as read that the EU honours the concept of solidarity more in word than in deed. So I do believe that the Commission should indeed make up the cash and that this year's surplus should be cut back accordingly.
It cannot be, or rather it should not be, the case that Europe's poor are treated unequally. I do not consider it right and proper for aid measures, in the final analysis, to be allocated according to the region for which they are destined. The situation in Upper Austria is that many businesses are not in the target region at all and certain aid measures are therefore denied to them. It goes without saying that we must also spare a thought for farmers, who should, speedily and unbureaucratically, have funds made available to them for the purchasing of feedingstuffs, be enabled to use set-aside land and should have cereals in intervention provided for them at cheap rates for feeding purposes.
It is obvious that we have to think of the thousands of private citizens whose homes were destroyed, and we should also, in a spirit of solidarity, make funds available for them."@en1
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