Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-15-Speech-2-219"
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"en.20080115.25.2-219"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me say at once to the Commissioner that while I endorse what he said, I believe the situation is not so much difficult as dramatic.
I could confine my statement to quoting from the article in
a few days ago. ‘Garbage littered on city streets can be not only unhealthy but also politically hazardous. It reminds voters of the fragility of civilisation – and can prompt them to turn on their elected representatives.’ That is the situation.
As everybody knows, Naples is famous for the film
in which the local people rise up against the foreign invaders. One newspaper wrote that the enemies in the land today are the people who sullied Naples’ good reputation in the world. A whole civilisation is being consumed. The tragedy of the waste in Naples and Campania did not strike overnight but has been building up for 14 years; EUR 8 billion have been spent uselessly and TV pictures have shown Europe and the entire world how the city streets have become quite impassable. The real tragedy began, as the Commissioner pointed out, on 21 December, when the municipal dust carts stopped their rounds because the tips were full to overflowing and there are no incinerators; there are impending health risks, and absolutely nobody, Commissioner, is talking about separate collection.
There are, in fact, no incinerators in Campania and waste management is in the hands of organised crime, the Camorra. The Campania region has not managed to tackle a problem that, in short, is a question of ordinary administration, such as cleaning the city, because it did not wish to do so, because the regional administration and its president are the slaves of the organised crime that controls all business.
Some of the political forces that form part of Mr Prodi’s government and all the opposition parties have called for the Regional Council to be dissolved and for the appointment of a commissioner with sweeping powers, as a reaction against the irresponsible Minister for the Environment, Pecoraro Scanio. A mere 81% of the EUR 200 million contribution under the European plan for the period 1994-1999 has been used; there is no regional plan and so someone had to be sent in.
I hope the President will allow me to speak for a few moments more. Under this arrangement contracts can be awarded without respecting the appropriate European regulations, which creates a vicious circle of illegality and inefficiency. The real risk is of losing the EUR 330 million Structural Fund money. The Commission has opened an infringement procedure against Italy; that was, unfortunately, inevitable, for certainly Campania is light years away from complying with the rules imposed by the European directives, which those in charge even in the government have disregarded.
We ask the Commission to carry out an inspection at the end of the month and to take a strong position on enforcing the use of incinerators. That is something Europe can do and we also call on Parliament to carry out an inspection, for a qualitative leap (...)."@en1
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"The Four Days of Naples"1
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