Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-15-Speech-3-296"
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"en.20041215.11.3-296"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, happily we all agree on this issue and, consequently, I also share what has been said by previous speakers.
We feel that it is crucial to extend this action programme and we also deem it important that in the two years concerned, 2005 and 2006, the Commission can make an accurate assessment of the current programme and can prepare a new and more ambitious instrument of action, taking account of the Financial Perspectives for 2007-2013 and any needs identified in the meantime. New problems require new solutions.
We also, therefore, endorse Mr Papadimoulis’s report – and I compliment him on his work – and we naturally support the Commission’s proposal to extend the programme. We do feel, however, that, bearing in mind the programme’s objectives and its enlargement to ten more countries, funding should be stepped up even further. The importance of civil protection continues to grow. Persons and property must be protected and this is an area that requires greater resources.
In recent years, as has been pointed out in this House, a number of natural disasters and criminally-motivated disasters have occurred, which have affected both the people and the economies of the countries concerned. Such was the case of the
accident, the floods in the South of France, the terrorist attack on Madrid and the forest fires in Spain and Portugal. Coming from Portugal as I do, I am particularly sensitive to this issue, as you will understand.
As I have said, greater funding would be desirable so that we can better prevent and remedy situations of this nature. In Portugal alone, for example, in 2003, 400 000 hectares of forest were burnt and approximately 170 000 hectares in 2004. It is therefore essential that the next action instrument provides for greater financial support. The environment is priceless and our forests cannot continue to disappear. We have an obligation to preserve them so that we can leave them to future generations. We cannot forget that the Earth does not belong to us, it has been borrowed for our children. We must therefore step up measures aimed at prevention and cure. As far as prevention is concerned, there must be greater EU involvement, in conjunction with national, regional and local administrations, along with technical and financial support, to prevent these disasters, which occur year after year.
Prevention is better, and indeed more effective and cheaper, than cure. With regard to restorative measures, coordination and monitoring must be stepped up, particularly in terms of reforesting the areas affected by the fires. It is worth remembering that the restoration of the Mediterranean forest has taken almost a hundred years. There are sectors in which we cannot make savings. As for civil protection, making savings might mean becoming irredeemably poorer and our collective future being severely compromised."@en1
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