Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-28-Speech-4-027"
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"en.20050428.5.4-027"2
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"Mr President, after the many criticisms that certain Member States have levelled at the rapporteur, it is time for some more praise for her, and from the mouth of an Austrian Member at that. I believe she has done a very constructive job of work, and the issue with which she is dealing is one for which it is not only necessary to get a majority in this House, as the dividing lines really do run between the various groups. I believe it to be important that these uniform standards, as proposed in various amendments, should apply to the most important pollutants right across Europe in order to avoid not only distortions of competition, but also environmental dumping.
Article 6 of the Groundwater Directive contains additional provisions on the protection of groundwater bodies, for the Water Framework Directive has nothing to say about how the indirect introduction of pollutants is to be addressed. In that respect – and as regards the way in which it enables us to send out a very penetrating and clear signal about the protection of the environment – I regard Article 6 as very important, and I also hope that this House will reject any attempts at watering it down. Amendment 45, which envisages a general derogation for good agricultural practice, I regard as counter-productive in terms of groundwater protection. Despite the provisions on adherence to good agricultural practice, which have been in force for years, the agricultural sector is still the most significant source of impurities in groundwater. According to the latest report by the European Environmental Agency, every groundwater body in the EU exceeds the threshold values for nitrates, and these make up 87% of the groundwater in agricultural areas.
Although some Members – it appears to me to be a large number of them – have come to the conclusion that the Nitrates Directive is superfluous, I believe that conclusion to be false; what is superfluous, in my view, is today’s debate."@en1
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