Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-16-Speech-3-043"
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"en.20051116.4.3-043"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by making the observation that the Council Presidency left us waiting some 10 to 15 minutes for the beginning of this debate. I would welcome at least an explanation and an apology; perhaps we will get one.
I wish to express my gratitude to Mr Wijkman for his dedication and hard work. His was no easy task, and it is surely no secret that there have been debates within the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, although we have been able to satisfactorily resolve these issues. The report we have in front of us is a good one, and there is one particular aspect of it that I would like to highlight. In Germany, there has been since Monday an agreement on a new Great Coalition, aspects of which agreement have come in for justified criticism: there are some compromises that not everyone can go along with.
The chapters on the environment, energy and climate change are, however, perfectly respectable, and I believe that they will enable Europe, too, to make progress. Much in the coalition agreement is identical with what the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety has proposed in the Wijkman report, and that is an encouragement to the Commission to redouble its commitment to pursuing its objectives in such areas as air travel.
Where renewable energies are concerned, we – not only in the German Great Coalition but also in the amendments we have tabled to the Wijkman report – want a new priority to be given to heating, an area in which, for little expense, we can save a great deal of CO2, and it is for that reason that the Commission wanted to table a proposal for a directive on the subject.
There is, I think, one issue that neither the Great Coalition in Germany nor the Environment Committee have satisfactorily resolved, and that is nuclear energy. I agree with Mrs Gutiérrez that nuclear energy is indispensable if we are to solve the climate problem.
I would, nevertheless, like to see the report gain a large and convincing majority, and let me conclude by emphasising what Mr Wijkman said about there being a security problem as well. According to one study by the Pentagon, climate change will, in the long term, represent a greater danger to the human race than international terrorism. That should make it clear to one and all, that now is the time for action."@en1
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