Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-05-Speech-1-083"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050905.18.1-083"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, I want to express my solidarity with all the victims and to thank particularly the many who gave voluntary help. We have had terrible fires in southern Europe, dreadful floods in the USA, in China and, in particular, in the European Alps. The Vorarlberg, the Tyrol, Switzerland and many areas in Bavaria were seriously affected. The damage in my own homeland, the Tyrol, was massive.
Let me quote you a few figures: the damage done to the public road network, to the system supplying drinking water, to the building of commercial roads and to communications amounted to hundreds of millions of euros. In total, over a thousand houses were damaged, and the destruction of factories and business premises meant that many people lost their livelihoods. It is obvious to all of us that we now need to act quickly, and, in particular, to be thorough in examining what caused this.
Commissioner Dimas has already highlighted a number of measures that have been taken. Although they amount to a good start, they must be followed by others, especially in view of the deficiencies in cross-border cooperation. The EU’s Solidarity Fund will also play its part, and we should adapt its rules to enable a proper response to major events of this kind, which affect whole regions.
Priority must, however, be given to thorough analysis. Let us not lose sight of the unfortunate fact that these natural disasters have become more devastating over recent years and that they are also occurring with far greater frequency. There is no doubt that the greater impact has to do with the more intensive exploitation on our part of confined spaces, particularly in mountainous areas, and also with the settlement of vulnerable areas. It follows that we have to give close consideration to what areas are amenable to settlement. Likewise, there is no doubt that the greater frequency is closely connected with global warming, but the way to address this is through continual research promoted by European programmes, particularly in exploring the possibilities of prevention.
What is important, though, is that the results we obtain be given practical expression, and this will mean the Member States and regions taking their obligations seriously if we are to be able to prevent such terrible occurrences in the future."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples