Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-05-Speech-1-071"
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"en.20050905.18.1-071"2
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".
Mr President, I too wish to pay my respects and those of the Verts/ALE Group to those killed, injured, or otherwise suffering from the effects of these calamities, for which – although we describe them as ‘natural disasters’ – human action must bear at least some share of the blame. In particular, as I see it, the images we have seen from the USA over recent days show that we politicians have the great responsibility of doing everything humanly possible to prevent such calamities or to alleviate their effects.
I have two or three practical questions I would like to put to Commissioner Dimas. The first has to do with protection against flooding. We heard, particularly from Austria, complaints to the effect that there was room for improvement in cross-border cooperation, for example on the Danube. Could you, Commissioner Dimas, say something more, and more specific, about what instruments the EU possesses to deal with this?
Turning to the forest fires in Portugal, this is the second year that we have been faced with such an extreme situation. Last year, measures were introduced in the individual locations; do you have as yet any initial findings relating to them? Were these measures effective this year? If we are now to talk in terms of new funding, it follows that we have to know which measures are effective and which are not.
Another thing I particularly want to do is to take up Mr Prodi’s idea. I am astonished, Commissioner Dimas, by the lack of any more proactive approach in your speech. Climatologists are predicting extreme drought in Southern Europe, as well as flooding and extreme weather phenomena in Central Europe, not to mention that climate change will make hurricanes and typhoons even more powerful and even more devastating. They have produced a whole range of publications on the subject.
Let me ask you, Commissioner Dimas, whether we ought not, at last, to do more about climate change, on top of all the many things that are said about it? Where have we got to with the second European Climate Change Programme, and how do you intend to inject more life into the climate talks in Montreal this autumn and winter?
If we decide on measures to protect us against climate change and organise them in an intelligent way, these self-same measures will reduce our dependence on crude oil and help to improve the quality of the air in our towns and cities. Perhaps the Commission should shed some light on the details of what would be a win-win-win situation."@en1
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