Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-01-Speech-1-047"
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"en.20030901.5.1-047"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I would like to thank you for your speech and for the visit you paid to Portugal, for the gesture of solidarity you made on behalf of the Commission, after two of your fellow Commissioners had visited my country, and for the comments you made in Portugal. I want you to know that the people of Portugal were particularly moved by Commissioner Barnier’s statement that he had never seen such a tragedy in the whole of his political career, and by his acknowledgement that the EUR 31 million of aid from the Solidarity Fund was not enough, or, to use his exact words, that it did not come up to expectations.
It was indeed a very great tragedy that struck Portugal, as you said. A tragedy whose cost is reckoned to be more than EUR one billion in damages and more than 400 000 hectares laid waste, according to the Commission’s own figures. That latter statistic is equivalent to 5% of the total land area of Portugal and almost 11% of its woodland. It was, as you said in your speech, a tragedy with repercussions in terms of human lives lost and with enormous long-term social, economic and environmental repercussions.
The much-needed emergency aid, which is crucial for those people who have nothing, who have lost everything, is now being distributed, thanks to decisive action on the part of the Portuguese Government, local authorities and those non-governmental organisations which pledged their solidarity. As you well know, Commissioner, and as you have argued in the past, European solidarity is needed. That solidarity must be reflected in the amount of aid and in the speed with which that aid arrives. I would like to underline these two elements: not only must the aid be appropriate in financial terms, but it must also arrive promptly, so that Europe can make an impact straight away.
To use your own words, then, Commissioner, the aid does not come up to expectations: the EUR 31 million is, of course, only for emergency aid, but the expenses which may be claimed as emergency aid have already risen to EUR 90 million, three times as much as the Community aid package. As I said, moreover, it is estimated that the cost of the tragedy will exceed EUR one billion. The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats was therefore right to emphasise the need for a Parliamentary resolution. Following this debate, Parliament must approve a resolution stating its position on this matter.
You mentioned many themes, Commissioner, notably the need for preventive action. We are with you on this point: prevention is indeed needed, because this is also an area in which prevention is better than cure. With that in mind, it may also be worth rethinking provisions such as those laid down as part of ‘Forest Focus’, in order to ensure that we have the financial wherewithal to prevent forest fires. The importance of Mediterranean woodland for regional and local economies, for creating employment, for protecting the land, for biodiversity and for quality of life renders this necessary indeed.
I would like to conclude by thanking all the Member States who showed such solidarity in providing prompt assistance to Portugal. I would also like to thank those countries that are not Members of the European Union and that also gave aid. The President of the Swiss Confederation is in Portugal this very day, bringing with him almost EUR one million in aid for one of the worst-affected municipalities, Mação. I wish to say a final word to emphasise a point that Commissioner Barnier has already mentioned: the dedication of the fire-fighters and of the civilian population, whose acts of courage, generosity and heroism are ample proof of the well-known fact that during tragedies such as this one, when the worst aspects of humanity occasionally become manifest, there are also many people who show us the best that humanity has to offer."@en1
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