Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-03-09-Speech-3-328"
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"en.20050309.20.3-328"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I apologise to the honourable Member, but I can only say that the Commissioner responsible, Mr Dimas, informed me that he would not be able to be present in the Chamber today because of personal commitments. Of course, I do not know the exact nature of his commitments, but I willingly agreed to replace him. In any case, I believe the speech I am going to make in this Chamber was drafted by his office and his Directorate-General, and Commissioner Dimas himself fully agrees with it.
The commitment made by heads of state and government in Göteborg to halt the decline in the use of biodiversity by 2010 is recognised as a key element of the EU’s sustainable development strategy. Nature and biodiversity are included in the main priorities for action. The successful implementation of the Natura 2000 network will be the cornerstone of the EU’s effort. Ensuring that Natura 2000 is adequately financed is therefore one of the top priorities. It is in that context that, on 15 July 2004, the Commission adopted its communication on the financing of Natura 2000. The communication looked at all possible options, including the establishment of a separate fund, and concluded that the most effective approach would be to integrate the funding of Natura 2000 into existing Community financial instruments.
The new structural fund regulations now under discussion in the Council provide for the financing of Natura 2000 and also include mechanisms for guidance and control by the Commission of the programmes the Member States submit. The Commission is aware that there is concern in Parliament about the priority Member States will give to Natura 2000 when faced with competing demands on limited budgets. It is argued that firmer guarantees and ring-fencing of funds are needed. The Commission cannot support such a rigid approach. It is not possible at this stage to give a precise indication of the amounts likely to be spent annually on cofinancing Natura sites from 2007 onwards.
The needs of Member States will probably be very different. Therefore, on the basis of the subsidiarity principle, it will be up to each Member State to decide on the requirements of its Natura 2000 network in drawing up national programmes for different funding regulations. Nevertheless, the Commission has proposed an element of ring-fencing that will assist the second axis of Natura 2000 in land management or rural development regulations. That requires Member States to allocate a minimum of 25% of the total for this fund to this axis, which means that at least EUR 22.75 billion will be available for land management during the 2007-2013 period. Support from the European Parliament in safeguarding that amount will be crucial.
In preparing their structural and rural development fund programmes, the Member States will need to take note of the priorities to be identified in the strategic guidelines, which will be issued by the Commission following approval of the funding regulation. As Natura 2000 has been clearly identified in a structural and rural development fund proposal, Natura 2000 will be identified as a Community priority in a strategic guideline for the relevant fund."@en1
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