Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-01-Speech-1-066"

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"Mr President, Commissioner, at this very moment fire is continuing to ravage part of the Massif des Maures in France. Desolation, helplessness and anger: that is how you feel when you cross these areas that have been burnt to a cinder. I know that you proposed the Solidarity Fund on behalf of the Commission, but what can the Fund do faced with the extent of these disasters and the consequent costs? It is whole swathes of the economy that are wiped out. Furthermore, nature, which is already weakened, never stops paying the cost of our inconsistent policies. Who will pay to restore nature, to rehabilitate the Natura 2000 areas that we have so much difficulty in designating, as they are too greatly coveted by frenzied tourist development? And have we not only narrowly avoided further catastrophes, when you think of the water in our rivers that was no longer cooling nuclear power stations; the waters in those rivers into which the French Government, for example, authorised even warmer water to be discharged? It really is high time that this stopped, Mr President, Commissioner. You yourself reminded us of our Kyoto commitments in terms of global warming. What is the Union doing, though, to impose an alternative transport policy or an alternative energy policy? Because this heatwave, as we all know and we have stated this again and again, is a foretaste of the problems we will have to face in the future. Meteorologists are unanimous: we can expect more heatwaves. After these disasters, now is the time for action, Commissioner. Furthermore, as we all know, that is when it comes to the crunch. Even here we do not use the same terms to mean the same thing. Sustainable development, sustainable transport, the sustainable economy: all European policies today are sustainable. In fact, to confront the ecological crisis we need a change of policy, and our policies need to be ecologically sustainable. We need to put in place an environment policy that is not forever seen as an optional extra, as it is today. The environment has to be a priority in the political choices that we make. This is still not the case, as we know. Moreover, we also have the technical means in the Commission – it is not worth describing them here; you know full well – to meet the challenge, but it is the political choices that are cruelly lacking, and this is true no matter what our governments say. Consequently, Commissioner, we really are counting on you to convince the politicians to make different choices."@en1

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