Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-12-Speech-4-158"
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"en.20050512.22.4-158"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I believe that we are all aware of the same problem and that we all know that this is not a problem for political parties but a problem at state level for each of our countries. It is a European problem, the tackling of which has, for many years, been postponed when dealing with overall policy.
I think it is very important to bear in mind that drought is a disaster which, moreover, also afflicts areas least able to be defended against water shortages or bouts of frost.
My fellow MEPs have already talked about the tragedy of losing more than EUR 2 000 million. For myself, I should like, however, also to talk about the human factor. I walk every weekend through my own region and know what it is to see black trees that will never grow again. I know the nature of a people like that of the Mediterranean region in which those with substantial farms, in many cases on the verge of retiring from farming with no one to take over from them, also think that the trees being planted will take more than six years to grow.
As a result of this disaster, much of the land will go uncultivated and will be liable to end up as mere desert. Let us not forget – and this is an important factor – that, in the future impact assessment, due weight will need to be given to the fact that it is, for example, the very olive groves and almond trees that are key factors in preventing desertification and preserving the scarce rain in our soil.
Nor must we forget that livestock are dying of thirst. The other day, a shepherd told me, ‘twenty-five per cent of my livestock will be going to the slaughterhouse this year. I cannot keep so much livestock. I have no water. The animals are thirsty’.
I want to say something more. The Natura 2000 network, about which Europe is so concerned, is in danger because the wetlands are without water. Those of us who live at this Mediterranean latitude in Murcia, Valencia or Andalusia know perfectly well that the birds are already no longer heard in the mornings because they have gone to places where they can drink. Even if householders put water out for them to drink, that is not enough because they lack not only drink but also food. That much is obvious, and Europe will need to include the fact among the variables it will have to study.
There is a series of measures proposed by the European Union. I am grateful for what you said, Commissioner, about forestry aid, but let us bear in mind that the summer has not yet begun. The Mediterranean climate, pitiless as it is, is really going to put us through it because our situation is already critical. It is May, and it has not rained.
I am also grateful for the idea of a pilot study, but I would point out that such a pilot study will have to be comprehensive.
Not only has my government acted belatedly, but it has taken measures that will exacerbate the situation. Why? Specifically because, four years ago, this Commission was presented with a National Hydrological Plan whereby water would be carried to these regions, indeed to the whole of the agricultural area. The European Commission delayed accepting the plan, the subject became politicised and, in the end, the Spanish Government kept the water where it was. Water is what, moreover, would have enabled the wetlands to thrive. It would have created a degree of hope and enabled the trees planted to replace those seriously affected by the frost or drought to grow again. We now face bleak prospects, a plan having been shelved for entirely political reasons."@en1
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