Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-10-01-Speech-1-066"
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"en.20011001.4.1-066"2
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". – Mr President, firstly I have to remind you that we do not yet know the exact causes and the series of events. It is estimated that it may be a year before we know all the details relating to the causes of this accident. It is important to remember that first of all we have to look at exactly what happened and what caused this terrible accident in Toulouse. Secondly, I would like to talk about responsibility, which, first and foremost, lies with the operators of hazardous facilities. Legislation cannot solve all of these problems. Responsibility here has to be clarified – and it lies with the operators of this plant.
One of the basic problems is the so-called urban sprawl – the problem of land use planning. This plant was established in the 1920s. As you know, the Seveso II directive concerns new facilities, as well as the rules on informing the public, etc. You also know that this is an extremely sensitive issue with the Member States, and until now responsibility for land use planning has rested at national, regional and local level. This is, then, a very sensitive issue and we are not yet empowered to take decisions on all relevant aspects.
So what can and must we do in a situation like this? We have to ensure that our legislation is updated and try to make provision for and anticipate the improvements required to our legislation in order to prevent these accidents from happening again, although we are aware that we will never be able to prevent all accidents. Unfortunately, we will probably be faced with accidents again, but everything we can do we must do. That is why, once we have established the causes of this accident, we will also enter into an open and transparent process of consultation and discussion with Member States and with all involved stakeholders in order to see what we can do to improve our existing directives and make them more effective in trying to prevent this type of accident. We should also move ahead with what is already on the table – the amended Seveso II directive – because of previous accidents. We should not delay in moving forward with the amended directive, but we should definitely be involved in following up this accident to ensure that we have done everything to our existing legislation to prevent it from reocurring in the future. Mr Savary's idea to employ the precautionary principle in land use planning is an excellent starting point, and we will definitely follow up that particular proposal.
I should also like to inform you of what happens when an accident like this occurs in one of the Member States. As you know, we have a Civil Protection Unit that is immediately activated to offer the Member State in question the help and assistance of the network of different experts in all Member States. France did not ask for any such assistance from our Civil Protection Unit. We have tried to bolster our civil protection activities in order to have, for example, joint training and a much more effective network of experts of every kind. For example, I was in Brittany after the
oil spill, when France needed help with bird cleaning. Cooperation in such a specific area in Europe to establish such a unit that can be activated immediately is possible. In an accident like this, France was offered all possible expertise from other Member States.
If we use a strengthened Civil Protection Unit in the best possible way, it can play the so-called 'green-helmet' role as a force that can be put in place immediately to help and act when accidents like this happen.
So we will definitely follow this up in a careful and coordinated way, in cooperation with the Member States, in order to see what more is needed as regards prevention. As you have all said, our thoughts are with the victims, rescue workers, relatives and people in the Toulouse area. We will continue to offer our help and assistance."@en1
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