Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-17-Speech-2-342"
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"en.20060117.25.2-342"2
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".
Mr President, as a Hungarian Member of the Socialist Group I am satisfied with the outcome of conciliation on the Bathing Water Directive. We have had extensive debates both in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and later in the Conciliation Committee. It was not easy to make clear that we cannot apply the same criteria to inland and coastal waters and lakes – such as Lake Balaton in Hungary – as we apply to the Atlantic Ocean. That does not mean that we do not want to have strict rules as regards our inland waterways. However, lakes and oceans are obviously different.
Landlocked countries such as Hungary and Austria should have a right to their own bathing water as well. The area around Hungary’s bathing lakes is subject to a ban on certain industrial and agricultural activities, and the sewage system covers almost 100% of households. We can improve many things, but we cannot turn a lake into an ocean.
The present compromise is acceptable to us but means a lot of work for my country: some beaches will be closed and many others should be improved, but that is the cost of a clean and healthy environment. The compromise on a stricter version of the category ‘sufficient’ is to be welcomed. Public information on water quality at bathing sites is also very important. Indeed, on all beaches around Lake Balaton there are huge information signs written in Hungarian, English, German and Russian. Of course, we could add French, hoping that more tourists will come from France and other French-speaking countries.
In my last speech, at second reading, I had a rather tough tone, due to the one-minute limit and the speed of a heavy debate. Now I should like to thank Mr Maaten for his report and readiness for constructive compromise. He did a good job.
I hope, when I welcome him to Hungary, that he will be able to see how clean and sweet our Lake Balaton is."@en1
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