Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-18-Speech-4-011"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20060518.4.4-011"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, over the last eight months we have visited the areas affected by natural disasters in many of the Member States and we have held a public hearing at which some of the people who have not had the opportunity to speak in their own national Parliaments have been able to speak. Today we are presenting concrete proposals, which the other institutions cannot allow to be thrown into the litter bin.
Some Members could legitimately be pleased with the work done in this area. It is more than the public administrations directly responsible in some of the Member States have done.
Nevertheless, I believe that we should ask ourselves whether we are more prepared now than we were eight months ago to prevent and combat this kind of disaster and whether we now have more effective mechanisms for helping those suffering the consequences of fire, water or drought. I am not sure.
In any event, I would like to thank all of the parliamentary groups for their commitment and dedication over these months of intensive work. I would like to thank the President of the European Parliament for taking an interest in who was going to attend the hearing, although I must admit that I would have preferred him to show his support by immediately visiting the areas affected, avoiding the bureaucratic procedures that delayed us for four months and resulting in us missing the opportunity to demonstrate the solidarity of all of us – I am sure – with the victims straightaway.
I would like in particular to thank Parliament’s services for the professionalism they have shown. They were subject to all kinds of pressures before, during and after the visits made.
I am delighted that we have been able to vote on these reports at the same time as the reform of the European Union’s Solidarity Fund, because we have noted general dissatisfaction with the application of this Community instrument in each and every place we have visited, Mr Piebalgs. I believe it to be essential that the Council accept Parliament’s amendments, in particular those that demand, on the one hand, that the Fund assist all of the victims and their families, and on the other, that the Fund’s limits of applicability be reduced and that this Fund can be applied when certain areas are completely destroyed, as in the case of Riba de Saelices, which we have visited.
Ladies and gentlemen, on these visits we have seen the deficiencies in the information campaigns aimed at prevention and the lack of coordination amongst the competent public administrations in the Member States, including, as we have seen, in Pampillosa da Serra, for example. We have also seen the dissatisfaction of the population in broad sectors of society, in NGOs and amongst representatives of civil society. I therefore hope that the proposals contained in the reports being submitted for Parliament’s consideration today receive wide support and send a clear signal to the governments of the Member States.
I would like quickly to summarise what we are asking for by means of ten points. First: a European strategy to combat natural disasters; secondly: the involvement of regions and local bodies; thirdly: flexibility in the redistribution of the funds available; fourthly: a Community forest-fire protection programme; fifthly: a specific proposal, Mr Piebalgs, for a directive for fire prevention and management in the European Union; sixthly: that the Seventh Framework Research Programme, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and the Galileo system be applied in order to assist in prevention and early warning; seventhly: information and educational programmes and campaigns agreed with the Member States; eighthly: a Community civil protection mechanism; ninthly: that additional financial instruments also be applied, such as EIB loans or State aid for regional purposes; and tenthly: that the European Parliament continue to carry out its duty of control with regard to the shortcomings in the fight against fire and all of the problems relating to it.
For all of these reasons, I would call upon everybody to put aside the party-political differences that may have divided us so that we can create a broad parliamentary consensus, which is what the European citizens are demanding of us and which we owe in particular to those who have suffered the consequences of these natural disasters: their victims."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples