Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-28-Speech-4-030"
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"en.20050428.5.4-030"2
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"Mr President, the first thing I would like to say is that the problem that has arisen in relation to speakers is solely and entirely due to an error within my group’s whip services, and it is therefore their responsibility to explain the situation to the Members affected.
Turning to this report by Mrs Klaß, I would like to point out that farmers will probably be the sector most affected by the Directive on the protection of groundwater that we are discussing, and that, despite this, their opinion has not been taken into account when producing the draft we have on the table. In many European regions, agriculture guarantees the existence of plant mass that prevents the desertification of the land, a phenomenon that leads to a significant increase in the natural pollutants in groundwater. The drastic reduction in this agricultural activity, which some people apparently want to see, would therefore run counter to the very objectives of the Directive that we are debating today.
Secondly, I would like to express my disappointment at the lack of interest shown by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in the amendments presented by this Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, in particular those that call for ‘quantity of water’ to be taken into account when establishing the factors that contribute to the pollution of groundwater.
The smaller aquifers, such as those often found in many southern regions of Europe, particularly during dry seasons, reach higher salinity levels and hence greater concentrations of sulphate; I would insist that this salinity is closely related to volumes of water, and this has not been taken into account in the report we are dealing with. I also reject the establishment of Community standards to replace national thresholds with quality standards, since that would introduce a static element which is incompatible with the diversity of soils and waters in many European regions. Furthermore, the farmers will be the main victims of these measures, because the tolerance levels of certain substances, in particular sulphates, which are generated by nature itself in many areas, depend on the characteristics of soils and crops, and there are examples of crops, such as rice, which endure higher levels of sulphates than other plant species. Therefore, to establish Community standards for this type of substance, which at no point endangers the health of consumers, could lead to unjustified halts in irrigation."@en1
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