Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-05-Speech-1-067"
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"en.20050905.18.1-067"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the extreme weather this summer has left a trail of destruction in numerous countries in Europe as well as in the United States of America and we have also seen many lives lost in the accidents of which the President spoke earlier.
Yesterday, Sunday, we received an official request for assistance from the United States and immediately activated the civil protection mechanism in order to coordinate the help provided by the Member States to the areas affected.
The European assistance package is made up of contributions from the Member States, which vary from material assistance to equipment and missions of experts and other specialists. Teams of experts and other materials have already arrived in the United States.
The Community civil protection mechanism has now become a necessary tool for coordinating European assistance. The response to the events of this summer, like the response to the tsunami at the end of last year, has proven that the mechanism operates satisfactorily.
Nonetheless, there is room for improvement, which is why the Commission proposed a package of measures in April 2005 to strengthen the European Union's response capability in the field of civil protection. These measures include proposals to improve the transportation of aid and the facility for the European Union to lease specialist equipment, such as additional water bomber aircraft, from third countries. These are precisely the sort of measures which will give European citizens – and not just European citizens – better protection against future disasters.
The Council is now examining the package of measures to strengthen civil protection. I am certain that the European Parliament supports our proposals and will stand by us in our endeavour.
Civil protection can only cover the first, immediate stage of an emergency. Other resources need to be used in order to deal with the consequences of disasters and to prevent them; this is what Mr Pan Ouzký was talking about earlier. The Commission has certain such resources at its disposal. Let me give you some examples.
The rural development programmes provide support to a broad range of forestry activities with funds to prevent fires and restore forests which have suffered damage. The 'forest focus' regulation is the most recent resource which we have at our disposal for monitoring the application of measures to prevent forest fires. The financial package for 'forest focus' for the period from 2003 to 2006 totals EUR 65 million, which includes EUR 9 million for preventing fires.
As far as floods are concerned, the Commission has proposed that a European Union coordinated action plan be prepared and applied in order to manage the risk of floods. The Commission has taken the relevant political initiative in application of the conclusions of the European Council held in December 2004.
The European Union Solidarity Fund can provide support to countries hit by major disasters in order to help them with their restoration efforts. Romania and Bulgaria have already asked the Commission to mobilise the Solidarity Fund. My colleagues responsible for regional policy, enlargement and agriculture are presently examining these requests.
Mr President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, allow me to close by saying that I am certain that the European Parliament will support our proposals and will take advantage of this opportunity to put the commitment to solidarity which it has undertaken into further action. It is our duty towards everyone hit by the recent disasters.
I too would therefore like, on behalf of the College of Commissioners, to express my condolences and our support for the victims of these disasters and accidents.
The Iberian peninsular suffered the worst drought in 60 years and this, in conjunction with high temperatures, encouraged the fires to spread in southern Europe. At the same time as the fires, floods inundated Central and Eastern Europe and hurricane Katrina hit the southern states of the United States of America.
Floods and forest fires occur repeatedly in Europe. The repercussions were more serious this year, but the fact that they occurred comes as no surprise to us. Consequently, political leaders need to anticipate this sort of disaster by planning measures which help to prevent, where possible, and using all available resources to deal with such crises in the most efficient way possible.
The Community civil protection mechanism was adopted in 2001 so that the European Union could respond in an efficient and coordinated manner to major emergencies. This mechanism is used to coordinate the resources available in the Member States for providing assistance. It also helps by conducting drills and planning hypothetical scenarios and simulations in order to identify possible gaps and problems in the Member States' civil protection systems and promotes cooperation and interoperability between the Member States' emergency services.
When the mechanism was activated in Portugal at the government's request, the European Union managed to organise the despatch and intervention of a number of fire-fighting vessels and helicopters from France, Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands within 24 hours to support the Portuguese fire-fighters and, with this assistance and more favourable weather conditions, it proved possible to check the fires within a few days.
In this way, the situation was brought under control and at midday today there were only five fires, compared with more than 50 on 22 August.
The mechanism was also used to provide help to Bulgaria and Romania, the two countries worst hit by the floods. Several Member States provided help by despatching teams, pumps, decontaminants and other resources through the European Union's civil protection mechanism.
At the moment, the European Union is making an important contribution to and is participating in efforts by the United States to deal with the tragic trail of destruction left behind by hurricane Katrina."@en1
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