Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-08-Speech-4-048"
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"en.20050908.5.4-048"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I have been very interested to hear the opinions and comments expressed in relation to this report. I will say first of all that, in general terms, I agree with the fundamental elements of the report, except perhaps for certain points raised during the debates, which I can agree with.
Tourism may be a significant driving force for the development of a poor country. Having said that, however, we must also consider the social effects, the environmental effects and, I would even say, the effects on cultural heritage. In fact, even here in Europe, large numbers of visitors to certain places lead to wear and tear and measures have to be taken to deal with it. I therefore believe that we must always bear in mind the need to protect countries’ cultural heritage. To the effects that I have already mentioned, I would also add the speculative effects and the economic effects.
Having said that, I believe that we must respect a fundamental principle, and that is that it falls first and foremost to the partner States to decide whether to treat tourism as a priority economic sector. It is not our job to decide for them. On this basis, what seems to me to be important at Commission level – and I shall offer a very firm commitment in this regard, Mrs Kinnock – is that, as well as contributing to the creation of tourist infrastructures by means of development projects, it could provide governments with useful know-how in terms of assessing the positive and negative effects of investments in the tourism sector and the use of the various instruments available in order to prevent the least desirable consequences. I believe that there is a lot of study to be done in this regard but I agree with you, Mrs Kinnock, that, for our part, we have not given this issue sufficient consideration. I therefore promise that we will work on this issue because I believe that we can provide the countries in question with the necessary know-how to ensure that investments in tourism conform to a whole series of criteria relating to best practices.
In this connection, I would like to digress slightly. I am currently working on an idea which would be a kind of ethical label intended for private companies that receive and manage the funds that the Commission grants them within the framework of cooperation. I shall soon have the opportunity to hold an exchange of views and to consult Parliament on this issue. We will be able to create a link between that label and the reflection that I was talking about.
Finally, I shall say a word about sex tourism. It is proposed to restore the budget line dedicated to the fight against sex tourism in order to guarantee the effective allocation of resources for that action. The reform of budget lines proposed by the Commission within the framework of the financial perspectives 2007-2013 is aimed at establishing a more efficient and rational framework for the creation and management of these lines, to put an end to the pointless fragmentation and to improve the establishment of priorities within the lines. The European Parliament and civil society will be fully consulted with regard to the implementation of this reform. That is a promise. Such an important issue as combating sex tourism will certainly find its rightful place within the context of 'Human and social development', together with other issues such as the fight against AIDS, gender equality, training problems or social cohesion.
Be that as it may, you may rest assured that we shall apply every possible attention and determination to trying to put in place an arsenal of support instruments aimed at developing countries that want to invest in tourism."@en1
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