Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-18-Speech-2-156"
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"en.20000118.6.2-156"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, Parliament must not consider the unusually violent storms which have raged across various European regions to be a normal occurrence. It is certainly a tragic one, but it must be seen as something exceptional.
On the contrary, these storms and their consequences are political events of major importance. How so? Why is this not an exceptional matter? Firstly because we now know that the occurrence of this kind of climatic phenomenon is never entirely unpredictable. We now know that this kind of storm is often related to phenomena of climate change and to greenhouse effect phenomena, with regard to which our citizens are waiting for the European Union to develop a comprehensive strategy of studies and forecasts.
Beyond that, though, what is at stake here, and this is why I say that it is, for us, an exceptionally important political phenomenon, is Europe’s ability to be what it claims to be, that is a Europe which is close to its citizens. This means, of course, that today we must send out a powerful message of solidarity to everyone affected by the storm and to the families that have lost a loved one. I would like to reiterate that we deplore the death of at least 90 people during this storm. This message must go to the craftsmen who have lost their work tools, to the farmers who have seen years of hard work disappear in a few minutes, and to everyone who saw in the 21st century in the cold and by candlelight.
With regard to this, I am delighted at the work that has been done in recent days in this House between the various political groups in order to reach a joint resolution which, I hope, will be adopted tomorrow. But in specific terms, and going beyond fine words, this solidarity must obviously be translated into a major mobilisation of finances which will enable us to set about rebuilding the devastated economic sectors, the destroyed communications networks and, quite simply, to provide people with decent living conditions once again.
I understand that some of the devastated areas were eligible under the Community Structural Funds and that everything possible will be done to mobilise them as quickly as possible. I would like to say, though, that this is not sufficient. It is not sufficient because the reallocation of these ongoing appropriations, simply towards making good the damage, penalises long-term projects for investment and development already in place. Above all, I think that public opinion will see this solution as unacceptable in terms of our political responsibility to Europe.
Our fellow citizens do not understand why the European Union is able to release considerable sums of aid in exceptional emergency conditions to help third countries which have suffered natural disasters, even if this aid is quite legitimate. From now on, if we want to ensure that Europe is not perceived by our citizens to be a machine churning out complex and pernickety regulations, this is something we must change. We have to come up with a new budgetary mechanism which will enable us, eventually, to raise sufficient funds in the event of an emergency and in the light of the great logistical and human mobilisation which we saw, with specialists coming from all over Europe. We must effectively facilitate the creation of a Europe-wide civil protection body. It is only when times are hard that we recognise our fellow human beings and appreciate their solidarity, and I think that this is the price of building a citizens’ Europe."@en1
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