Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-07-03-Speech-1-159"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060703.19.1-159"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – Mr President, I too should like to congratulate the rapporteur and indeed everybody involved in reaching an agreement which has produced a joint text on this important regulation concerning the Aarhus Convention.
In Parliament and elsewhere we often speak about bringing Europe closer to its citizens. Well, Aarhus translates our words into action. I believe this regulation certainly helps to put flesh on the bones of Aarhus. Too often governments and other public bodies pay lip-service to public consultation and participation. It is seen as a necessary evil to be dispensed with as soon as possible; an inconvenience that the real decision makers have to endure. Too often public participation is filed away in some deep, dark drawer and very conveniently ignored.
That was and, in many cases still is, the system. That system has decided in its wisdom that the public – the ordinary citizens – whose lives will be immediately and permanently affected by certain environmental decisions cannot be trusted to participate in and influence such important decisions. The system is due for a shake-up and this regulation will significantly help that process.
Commissioner Wallström speaks of Plan D – for dialogue, debate and democracy. Well, Plan A, which is Aarhus, is surely a framework for ensuring that we can have dialogue, debate and democracy in environmental matters.
Unfortunately we have not yet ratified the Aarhus Convention in my own country, the Republic of Ireland, unlike most of our neighbours in the EU. That continues to place Irish citizens at a disadvantage, as Aarhus is the world’s most far-reaching treaty on environmental rights and guarantees public rights to access to information and public participation in environmental decision making.
This regulation, I am sure, will be welcomed by those who have an interest in the proposed incinerator in Ringsend in Dublin and will have certainly greatly facilitated those with concerns about Corrib Gas in the west of Ireland. However, I am pleased that, in this House at least, we are going in the right direction even if some countries, like my own, are dragging their heels."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples