Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-06-16-Speech-1-106"
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"en.20080616.20.1-106"2
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"Mr President, I, too, would like to thank the rapporteur and the Commission for the very constructive work that has been done on this proposal.
I wish to remind the House that this is a compromise package. It is a very sound compromise that has been negotiated here, and it is certainly another piece in the jigsaw of excellent water quality in Europe. I do wish to stress that Europe is the continent, or the political entity, that sets great store by its environment and imposes very high standards. It may be that our goal could be achieved more quickly but, if we compare Europe with other parts of the world, we can claim to have attained a very high standard, and that standard must be maintained and further improved.
In this context, I would also like to remind the Commission that we need to be effective in selling these successes that we have incontestably achieved in the field of European environmental policy, and especially water policy. The Irish referendum in particular, however, shows that we have not managed to convey this success story. Europe is highly successful in the environmental field, but very few of its population are aware of its leading role. It may well be that lobbyists have watered down the compromise to some extent, but there are also other lobbies which have helped to ensure that the compromise does indeed impose the need for strenuous efforts on the part of industrial firms, farmers and other polluters.
In this context, let me remind you that water is certainly one of the elements on which we shall have to focus more political attention in future. I must ask the Commissioner to keep his eye on the future development of water policy, because climate change in particular is set to confront us with new problems, and the importance of water to the economy and to human life is set to increase sharply.
On the whole, it is a balanced compromise, and I ask all my fellow Members to endorse it. It was not possible to achieve any more."@en1
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