Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-140"
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"en.20021009.9.3-140"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to express my satisfaction regarding the rapid creation of this emergency aid fund that can be called upon in cases of major disasters, since victims have the right to expect the European Union to provide them with solidarity and assistance.
I also regret, however, that this statement is only being made after several years of repeated requests to the European executive to set up an instrument of this sort, the lack of which was, for example, particularly marked following the storms which hit France in December 1999. Mr Savary mentioned this earlier.
The powerlessness and inertia of the Community in such circumstances have been very badly perceived by the general public, even though efforts were undertaken to bring Europe closer to its citizens.
Today, following the catastrophic weather in central Europe and in the south of France, the imminent prospect of the implementation of an emergency fund with an annual grant of EUR 1 billion may, at last, give slightly more credibility to the concepts of European solidarity and a common destiny. In this respect, I believe it is essential to congratulate, in particular, Commissioner Barnier, who succeeded in drafting a proposal for a regulation of very high quality in a record time.
The Fund will provide emergency aid to any area affected by a major disaster, whatever its status with regard to the Structural Funds. An additional qualitative criterion stipulates that, in very exception circumstances, namely when the disaster affects a substantial part of the population of the region or the State concerned, the assistance from this Fund can therefore be used. I knew that we could count on you, Commissioner, for this provision to include the particular case of the outermost regions, whose geographical and climatic situation often causes dramatically poor weather that has devastating consequences on their relative prosperity. Article 299(2) of the Treaty must be able to be applied, including in the scenario in question that I obviously do not wish to see happen again in a hurry."@en1
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