Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-02-15-Speech-2-151"
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"en.20000215.8.2-151"2
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"Mr President, it must be some six years ago now that Mr Karl-Heinz Florenz, assisted by Mrs Ursula Schleicher, put in a request and managed to overhaul the water policy in its entirety. It is not an easy topic and, in my opinion, the efforts made by Mrs Lienemann are very laudable indeed.
The decision-making process concerning this framework directive on water has reached a crucial stage. The topic has been brought under the codecision procedure and as a result, we have been able to draft important, more stringent legislation as early on as at first reading. In fact, the common position which was issued at the end of last year was already a major improvement on the original proposal. It is also very hard to adopt policy in this respect because the discrepancies are so huge. I would also address the Spanish Member in this respect: in the North of Europe, we often face floods, but also polluted water, from industry, whilst the problem facing the Members in the South is often related to transporting water over long distances, simply to supply drinking water or water for agriculture.
I would like to enter into the two elements of this topic in more detail. I would first of all like to focus on quality. The Netherlands is significantly affected by the European water policy. A very important component, to wit, one third of our drinking water, is extracted from surface water in the Netherlands. The Netherlands is located downstream, in a delta, which means that the quality of the surface water which heads our way is of key importance.
Another important point of discussion is the standardisation of water quality. In a number of amendments, the proposed standards and especially the OSPAR standard for 2020 are called into question. Although I understand that, according to some, this standard is unclear or that it cannot be defended judicially, I do believe that we have to support it because we could then provide more precise standards in a conciliation procedure.
I would now like to say a few words on quantity management. In his poem “
” [“Reminiscing about Holland”], a famous Dutch poet mentioned water too, which, with its never-ending trail of destruction, was feared and respected. In 1953, we suffered an enormous flood at a time when we were able to play a pioneering role in terms of dam technology. When our rivers flooded in 1990, we established that installing artificial works upstream affects the water-storage capacity downstream and can cause a great deal of damage.
This means that in terms of quantity management too, we need to put in considerable effort to ensure that life upstream and downstream is not affected by it."@en1
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"Herinneringen aan Holland"1
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