Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-03-Speech-2-147"
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"en.20001003.4.2-147"2
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"Mr President, we might be inclined to think that when new countries join the EU, this automatically means that they will have to introduce more stringent rules to protect the environment and nature. This may be true in part, where the protection of the environment is concerned, but when it comes to protecting nature, it is a different matter.
The candidate countries want to experience quick economic growth, even if this is at the expense of previously stipulated nature protection policy. Of those candidate countries, it is mainly the Eastern European countries which have a rich tradition of identifying and protecting nature reserves. Accordingly, their decision in favour of rail transport, which takes up less space and emits less polluting substances than road transport, was a sound one. This head start has been put at risk over the past decade, mainly by the impoverishment of a large section of the population and by the wish for a new, car-oriented infrastructure. Some candidate countries would like financial support from the European Union for projects which will need to be abandoned once they join the Union. One example is the motorway in Bulgaria between Sofia and Thessaloniki, which cuts right through the vulnerable Kreshna gorge.
In some countries, the state of the natural world and of the environment is treated much like a state secret. This is why it is important for the citizens of those countries to become actively involved. The fact that non-governmental organisations for the protection of nature, the environment and animals are set up and developed, therefore, deserves our active support. Any transitional periods which postpone compliance with nature and environmental requirements could also freeze and obstruct the policy within the EU’s current Member States.
The next few years in Eastern Europe might well see the depopulation of rural villages and the large-scale purchase of agricultural land for mechanised production-intensive farms. In addition, new industrial sites are being built. And the transport of arable produce and stock breeding products over long distances will take off in a big way. This also applies to the inhuman transport of live animals to slaughterhouses.
Watercourses, hedges and stone walls, which are the traditional land dividers in the countryside, have already been partly destroyed by large-scale collectivisation, but the remainder thereof is now also at risk. The habitat directive and bird directive will not apply to the new Member States until the areas and animals to be protected have been listed in an appendix. This requires swift action so that these directives can enter into effect as from day one. We need to try to protect the countryside and the natural areas from any negative impact.
I welcome the broad approval from the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy and I hope for the same from Parliament as a whole."@en1
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