Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-18-Speech-1-130"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021118.7.1-130"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Madam President, it is unfortunate that we have had to make substantial alterations to the Souchet and Nogueira reports. The whole scenario is depressing enough already: here we are, sitting in a warm room and endlessly talking, not only with each other but often, alas, at odds with each other. Out there, though, our environmental accidents and overfishing are making conditions catastrophic for more and more fish stocks.
In here, or so it seems, we prefer to stonewall rather than work on a genuine reform, and the image of the European Union suffers. We should start by sorting out our own environment, and do it at once. The Commission proposals may have been late in landing on the table, but they got there well before the summer. Now that the first snows are falling, we are talking; but it is only today that we are discussing the timetable for the reform, which is due to enter into force on 1 January of next year, which is only a few weeks away.
Quite apart from the Gallic bias of its content, this timetable started out as a tall order in linguistic terms. By dint of great efforts and 258 amendments, the Committee on Fisheries was then able to make the timetable readable with a view to genuine reform. It is curious, though, to take one example, that the committee voted to safeguard the twelve nautical mile zone – and now I am supposed to vote against it on Wednesday! That I will not do. Am I a puppet; are we marionettes? Granted, we all want to be re-elected. Is that why the spirits invoked by the Committee on Fisheries have proved so remarkably changeable? We all know that without fish, the fishing industry will die out. What this is about is protecting the fleet and protection of resources, which are fundamental principles; there can be no deviation from them and no softening-up of them. I want the fisheries industry to be economically successful, socially balanced, and to make sense in environmental terms. We have to face reality and cannot set sail in an ever-increasing fleet in search of the mirage of stocks that last for ever.
I appeal to my fellow-MEPs to break free of their national interests and support me in maintaining our fish stocks!"@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples