Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-04-Speech-1-136"
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"en.20060904.20.1-136"2
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"As I speak, the fire that, in the far north of Portugal, has struck the biggest natural park in the country for the second time this year, has yet to be put out. What is more, eight other large-scale fires in other regions remain active.
The tragedy of the fires is still affecting a number of Member States this year, although it appears that Spain is currently the worst affected, with countless human tragedies, including loss of life, and economic and environmental losses that cannot be quantified. I therefore wish to express my solidarity and heartfelt sympathy with all Members of this House from all of the countries affected, and in particular those from Spain. I remind the House of those who have lost their lives in this inferno that has hit us, and pay tribute to all those who – in a professional capacity or otherwise – have striven as far as is humanly possible to mitigate the impact of the fires
As we know, the problem of the forest fires and other disasters cannot be waved away overnight with a magic wand, particularly given that they are often down to a complex range of factors, such as the climate and negligence or crime on the part of human beings. Yet we also know that it is possible to reduce their scale and offset the impact if we attach due political priority to the issue.
It should be remembered that Parliament recently dedicated a great deal of attention to the issue, over several months, and mobilised the resources and the good will to gain a better understanding of these phenomena, to identify the causes and to propose short-, medium- and long-term solutions to reverse this appalling situation. Various commissions interviewed researchers and experts, made contact with local authorities and communities, and formulated proposals and recommendations to the Commission and the Council that obtained broad political support in Parliament last May. I was the rapporteur for the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, which formulated some 30 proposals with a view to adopting a European strategy, which was aimed at achieving the objectives of reducing the impact of natural disasters to a minimum via the creation of new measures and ensuring that the various existing political and financial instruments operate coherently.
It would be unreasonable to expect all of these proposals to have been implemented since May, but there is an increasingly urgent need to move from the reports to practical action. The political debate is over, and there is awareness of and agreement on the political solutions needed. The fresh tragedy this summer has merely served to remind us that we need to act with increasing urgency so that next year we do not have to be restricted to expressing words of mutual solidarity in the face of a new tragedy."@en1
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