Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-10-20-Speech-1-050"
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"en.20031020.4.1-050"2
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"Mr President, I should like to start by warmly congratulating our rapporteur, Mrs Redondo Jiménez, who has done an outstanding job, with the support, obviously, of Commissioner Wallström.
I say outstanding because, despite serious initial concerns, we have finally reached this compromise agreement with the Council.
The European forest is very diverse: from the forests of Scandinavia to those of the Mediterranean, the problems we encounter are completely different. This summer, disaster struck southern Europe because of the drought and the heatwave. It was therefore important to include fire prevention, which was not at all clear at the outset.
As Mrs Redondo Jiménez has explained so eloquently, we need to consider all of the different facets of our forests: we need to look at them from an environmental point of view and take into account the problems of pollution, but we also need to consider their economic, touristic and social functions. We need to compare different people's experiences and indeed take advantage of the good example set by the Scandinavian countries on forest management, but we also need to see our forests as part of our rural development strategy. There is no doubt that a good number of Member States need to reflect on the future of their forests.
Fire prevention requires us to keep farming our land. This should give critics of the common agricultural policy pause for thought.
The public should also be better informed in risk areas. Finally, and above all, replanting of the forests that have been destroyed needs to be carefully thought through and species chosen that are appropriate to the land and climate and more likely to withstand fire.
We can therefore only welcome the new financial framework for 2003 to 2006, which provides for EUR 61 million, EUR 9 million of which will be allocated to fire prevention. At last, we can exercise our full power of codecision because in 2006 we will also be evaluating what we have achieved.
The negotiations have, it is true, been very lengthy, but the result is important for Europe. It is up to us to continue our efforts because, as our Commissioner said, this is an ongoing task."@en1
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