Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-13-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20051013.3.4-017"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, our debate today is on an own initiative report which would, however, gain by being a report with legislative force, so important is, I believe, the urban dimension in the context of enlargement to the European Union.
To close, I want to say that, instead of admitting the inadequacy of sustainable policies, what we are doing is to suggest that what is to blame is a lack of support for an outdated practice, which is contrary to the Lisbon policy and is not worthy of our efforts. We need to separate one term from the other and work ā I repeat jointly ā to make the vision of sustainable urban development a reality.
European towns and cities are still the places
of creation and the centre of social and cultural development, as we can see from the attraction they exert over people. On the other hand, however, they are the places where numerous and varied problems are concentrated, such as environmental pollution, traffic congestion, housing problems, crime and drug addiction and social exclusion, immigration and poverty.
Therefore, with reference to the report by Mr Beaupuy, I should like to comment on five points which I consider important. As a member of parliament from a country which became a Member State in the last enlargement, I cannot but welcome the effort of the Committee on Regional Development to address this issue.
The first point I should like to emphasise relates to the observation about the great disparities in terms of urban policy between the 25 Member States, particularly as a result of the enlargement to include 10 new Member States, which often have no clear and comprehensive urban policy at national or regional level. Although I agree with this recital, we must not forget that the same drawback also applies in numerous older Member States, where urban policy is an endangered species and towns and cities are being left at the mercy of some higher power. The effort, therefore, to address and find a viable solution to the problems which are the scourge of towns and cities must be a joint effort in all 25 Member States of the Union.
The second point on which I should like to comment and which is of major importance to Member States with a rural economy, is that towns and cities or areas form part of regional territory, and hence sustainable urban development must be pursued in harmony with neighbouring rural zones. As you know, in numerous Member States, large rural zones often become isolated when neighbouring towns are deserted. We therefore need to step up our efforts to make smaller towns more attractive, so that, for example, villages are not deserted in favour of cities, as this can have negative repercussions on the rural economy of some Member States.
The fact that over 80% of economic activity is exercised in towns and cities makes local authorities pillars of regional development. Therefore, regional development and urban development have now become interconnected concepts.
Taking as a starting point the principle that urban and rural zones form part of the region and that they are interactive and interdependent zones, our action must centre on upgrading rural areas in order to iron out differences between and balance the two zones.
Similarly, on another point, the rapporteur calls on the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament to propose an amendment to Annex VĪ of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament on the subject of the areas of competence of the Committee on Regional Development with a view to incorporating the urban dimension specifically, in addition to regional and cohesion policy, in its objectives and competencies, taking account of the work of the other committees concerned (transport, environment, research, employment and social affairs, internal market, culture and so on) in a horizontal approach.
This message is particularly important not only because it will increase the competencies of the committee in question, but also because it will send a message to the citizens that we are concerned, we are listening, we are paying attention to the problems of their daily life and we are trying to find viable solutions."@en1
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