Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-18-Speech-2-166"
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"en.20000118.6.2-166"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the storms that took place at the turn of the millennium should galvanise us into thinking about certain problems. It has become clear that mankind continues to be unable to avoid natural disasters. There have always been natural disasters and there always will be. Of course, there is a need for solidarity here. There is certainly a need for European civil protection, and the EU budget must also provide for a budget line covering natural disasters.
But, most importantly, it is only ever man that makes the mistakes as far as the nature-mankind relationship is concerned – despite the fact that the same mistakes have often been made down through the centuries – and never nature, for nature cannot make mistakes.
The extent of the damage caused on this occasion was determined by the population density, the type of infrastructure, and, of course, the many monocultures, if we are talking forests. Of course, I am in favour of providing assistance where we can. But when it comes to aid, we ought to bear in mind that perhaps in future, more emphasis should be placed on laying electricity and telephone cabling underground. We must take account of smaller cycles and plant stable mixed woodland when undertaking reforestation, rather than monocultures.
The most important subject for discussion in this context is the climate. To this day, we in Europe remain in the privileged position of having the Gulf Stream, and the Gulf Stream still does its stuff. America and south-east Asia are having a much worse time of it as far as climate and storms go. We are fortunate in having the Gulf Stream. But in common with others, we too are having to endure the greenhouse effect. This is partly the work of human hand, as difficult as it is to demonstrate climate change using calculations.
We must take more account of the guidelines produced at the Kyoto environmental conference. We must reduce CO2 emissions, employ renewable energies, and generally make enquiries, in this connection, as to how the forests of Europe are faring."@en1
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