Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-12-Speech-1-124"
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"en.20060612.18.1-124"2
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"Mr President, may I offer my sincere thanks to Mrs Klass for her fine work. I can enthusiastically endorse 99% of her report. I should also like to come back to what Mr Mulder said about our requiring comparable standards in Europe, not necessarily standards like those in Germany or the Netherlands but standards which ensure that comparable rules apply to all clay soils and to all sandy soils.
When I hear my honourable colleagues, however – some of whom have already decamped again – I am quite astonished to note that the Nitrates Directive evidently has not yet been transposed in their respective countries, otherwise they would not be raising such a hue and cry. If their governments had transposed the Nitrates Directive – and I say this as one of the few farmers in this House who is still running a real farm – this situation could not arise. In the fields of Europe today, farmers can only use as much fertiliser as their crops will actually absorb. We can therefore conduct this debate again with those who really know the ropes and who do not believe it is enough simply to impose standards. It is certainly not enough. That is why the link with the Nitrates Directive is badly needed as a basis for intervention.
The Commission had no option but to present a good proposal of this type, because as a farmer you can only influence what you yourself actually do in your own fields. With the best will in the world, you cannot influence the deposits that result from geogenic processes rather than your own agricultural activity; try as you might, the best you can hope for is that trends will be reversed over many decades, perhaps in 50 to 100 years. This is why I believe that the combination of a nitrates directive and a groundwater directive must be preserved, and I shall campaign actively for that.
Moreover, my fellow campaigners are not confined to those who always champion the cause of clean air. The desire for pure air, water and soil were the crucial reasons for the decision I took 17 years ago to go to Brussels rather than stand for election to my national parliament. It was for this, Mrs Auken, that I fought with a will alongside your brother, who was Minister for the Environment at that time, and we managed to secure progress in many areas. He was involved, as you know, in the negotiation of the Nitrates Directive."@en1
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