Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-03-Speech-2-161"
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"en.20020903.6.2-161"2
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"Mr President, with a peculiar sort of local chauvinism, I too must start by saying that my home region of Upper Austria and, more importantly, my home district of Perk have been devastated by the floods. In my home district of Perk, we had a total of three flash floods and mudslides of unprecedented magnitude within a month. The first, which, relatively speaking, was the mildest, hit my own house.
The time of trying to persuade ourselves that this is a one in a millennium occurrence – an unhappy combination of circumstances – is past; we are sure that this is a catastrophe brought about by climate change and could strike again at any given moment. It could strike again anywhere in Europe or the rest of the world at any given moment; in other words, even as we deal with the emergency and repair the damage, we need to focus on prevention and on protecting the climate.
I am very grateful to everyone, including the Commission, which has put a really impressive package together and shown us how we can help at European level. All of us from the regions affected have already said that this is a message which has been very well received by our citizens. I also believe – which is why, of course, we are lobbying here for increased support – that help from the European Union should be in proportion to the damage. The total bill in Upper Austria will probably be in the region of EUR 3 billion.
I have a special request to put to the Commission on behalf of my region, which is neither an Objective 1 nor an Objective 2 region and the places worst affected do not qualify for aid. It is a request for support in implementing restructuring measures within Austria, including these areas.
I should like to thank you, President Cox, for having taken an early initiative on behalf of the European Union and agreeing to open an exhibition of the damage in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria which I have organised at 5 p.m. this evening, because I think this sort of solidarity is important. I can also report that, in my region, even people who lost everything or almost everything are saying, the poor Czechs, they are even worse off, they will probably find it even harder to cope. I believe we have seen an upsurge in cross-border solidarity.
I should like to use this platform to thank everyone who has helped in Austria, the army, the fire brigade, the Red Cross and all the volunteers. Many agencies have been overwhelmed with offers of help. In Austria, African asylum seekers have been helping and young Muslim associations have volunteered to help. There has been a wave of solidarity, the like of which we have never experienced and which has taken many people by surprise and I should be glad to pass the message of heartfelt sympathy expressed here to the victims in my home region."@en1
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