Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-11-Speech-4-183"
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"en.20020411.10.4-183"2
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".
Mr President, like you, the Commission was shocked at the damage caused by the torrential rain which hit the Canary Islands and Alicante on 31 March; we sympathise with the families bereaved by the disaster and deeply regret the damage caused.
I can confirm, on behalf of the Commission, that we intend to apply every means available under regional policy, agricultural policy and rural development policy in order to help reconstruct the areas damaged and restore production.
As far as regional policy between 2000 and 2006 is concerned, the damaged areas in both the Canaries and the region of Alicante are eligible for Objective 1 aid under the Structural Funds and the Commission and, as you said, the Spanish authorities will consider whether resources available under ERDF programmes can be reallocated in order to reconstruct infrastructure damaged by the torrential rain within the ERDF monitoring committees.
As regards rural development policy, which is cofinanced under the EAGGF-Guidance in the Objective 1 region, the integrated operational programme for the Canary Islands on preserving the countryside and the agricultural economy includes action to prevent and correct soil erosion and work to prevent possible damage and restore and regenerate ecosystems. The Community funds this measure to the tune of over EUR 20 million and, again under rural development policy for the community of Valencia, the integrated operational programme includes a forestry measure which makes provision for reforestation following natural disasters and preventive instruments. The Community provides over EUR 13 million for this and, as with the ERDF, it is up to the Spanish authorities to restructure their priorities within their programming budget as and where necessary in order to deal with the consequences of this disaster.
On the aspect of the subject addressed by Mr Medina Ortega, these flash floods are, unfortunately, quite a frequent phenomenon in the Mediterranean and in coastal regions, which is why we and the Member States have developed several specific projects on the subject, the results of which will allow us to decide if guidelines on reducing these floods need to be introduced under Community action programmes.
Generally speaking, and with the scientific information currently available, no connection can be established between this sort of inclement weather and climate change. However, we consider that climate change is the most serious ecological threat we have to face and, as such, the agreements brokered in Bonn and Marrakech are successful additions to the multilateral approach to the fight against climate change. As one speaker has just reminded us, this progress has given the Union and third countries the technical parameters needed in order to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. As you know, the Council of Ministers of the Union took the decision to ratify the protocol at the beginning of March and we shall all do our best to ensure that the ratification acts are filed by 1 June, i.e. before the world summit on sustainable development, as a symbol of the leadership which the Union has demonstrated here and in the run-up to the Johannesburg summit."@en1
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