Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-254"
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"en.20081008.24.3-254"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the debate on water management and water-related problems, which has highlighted many varied points of view. Although I will not respond to each individual speaker, I would like to address several issues contained in the report that I consider to be of particular importance. Firstly, the report acknowledges the importance of the Water Framework Directive. Full implementation of this Directive is a priority that will help to solve the problem of poor water management. The report also points out that measures on the demand side should be preferred and welcomes the fact that water savings are the Commission’s first priority in tackling this problem. The water-saving potential in Europe is huge: 33% in households and 43% in agriculture.
The report also emphasises the link between climate change, water scarcity and drought and the need to take water-related issues into account in other policies, such as land-use planning, where poor decisions in some cases have aggravated the problem in the past. The report also calls on regional and local authorities to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Structural Funds, and underlines the role played by environmental programmes within the framework of the second pillar of the common agricultural policy. This integration will be a priority in the shift towards practices aimed at achieving water savings.
The report also acknowledges the importance of high-quality information and calls on the Commission to promote the entry into operation of the European Drought Observatory. In response to the communication, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre is now developing its prototype.
Finally, the report stresses the need for precise measures and a concrete timetable for their implementation. I can assure you that the Commission intends to elaborate further on the goals set out in the communication and that it is working on a report that will evaluate the progress made in solving the problems concerned. In addition, the Commission is fully committed to continuously solving these issues at international level, in particular through the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion I would like to say that water-related issues will continue to be at the heart of our political programme and that your report is a very useful and topical contribution to the Commission’s continuous efforts to adapt to climate change.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think that the debate has demonstrated clearly that water management is a complex issue and I cannot but agree with your opinion that this issue must be streamlined in all policies and that its facets are also extremely significant at international level."@en1
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