Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-138"
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"en.20021009.9.3-138"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I believe that this evening and tomorrow's vote will see us reaching another milestone in the European Union's manifestation of European solidarity. The floods have wrought their havoc, and we have taken immediate action. Let me take this opportunity to remind you of the resolution Parliament passed by a large majority – over 470 votes in favour – at the first September part-session in Strasbourg. We showed how aid can be provided quickly and secured on a durable basis, and that there can be an instant guarantee of European aid.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Commissioner, who has so quickly taken on board this initiative by Parliament and submitted proposals, and say that it would be proper for Parliament to process these proposals without delay, even though our rules actually provide for a different procedure, and even though my parliamentarian convictions do not always lead me to favour our all too ready abandonment of our rights. In this case, though, it makes sense, and in this case it is right that we should act in this way.
We have now created lines in the Supplementary Budget that we have just passed. We are now discussing the legal basis, about which we want to have agreement with the Council by the time we meet in Strasbourg at the end of this month. What this means is that the formal conditions for the disbursement of funds have been fulfilled. Two are required – the legal basis and the Budget line. What I ask is that the Commission should manage to come up with a supplementary budget quickly. That, Mr Barnier, is a job for your fellow Commissioner Mrs Schreyer rather than for you! Money must also then be allocated to these lines, because – as I have told this House three times already – if a disaster strikes in the middle of August and emergency aid takes until just before Christmas to arrive, then that is not emergency aid at all! We should not be deceiving ourselves. That being so, Mr Barnier, my request is to be passed on to Mrs Schreyer – who, I am glad to see, is coming in on cue – that a supplementary budget be set as quickly as possible, so that the lines can be funded and so that European solidarity can be a matter of deeds and not just words. This needs to be given expression, and it is time that we did so.
I think that we in this Parliament have made our advance payment, and I hope that help can be given quickly, and in accordance with definite criteria, in any future disasters such as we have experienced in August, and that the events leading to the abolition, without legal grounds, of the former Disaster Fund do not recur. Not all the problems in Europe should be allowed to become European solidarity issues. This is where a clear dividing line must be drawn between solidarity and subsidiarity. If we manage that, we will be on the right track!"@en1
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