Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-18-Speech-4-034"
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"en.20060518.4.4-034"2
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"Mr President, in September 2003, following the unprecedented forest fires of the summer that, as you will recall, affected Portugal and a whole host of regions in southern Europe, we took the floor in order to urge the European Union to equip itself with a permanent rapid reaction force. We appealed at that time, and we continue to appeal, in the four excellent reports presented to us, not only, I would say, for a little less national self-interest regarding civil protection, but also, as Mrs Estrella proposes in paragraphs 3 and 4, for example, of her report, for enhanced European cooperation regarding civil protection. Mr Wojciechowski broadly addressed this precise point.
We need enhanced European cooperation for at least two good reasons. Firstly, the impact of climate change on the frequency of natural disasters, the torrential rain in northern and eastern Europe, drought and the fires that wreaked havoc last year are there to remind us of the crucial need to act, and to act quickly, on this matter.
Secondly, the financial cost of these disasters is increasing, and our Member States are having more and more difficulty in meeting it by themselves. This is, of course, where the Solidarity Fund comes into its own, as it is designed to cover these emergency costs, such as the provision of water, energy and housing, or the repairing of basic infrastructure. I should like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank Mr Berend, who wants to make it easier immediately to access part of the payments and who also proposes to extend the benefit of the Fund to other types of disaster such as drought or even – as he mentioned – biological or chemical terrorist threats or attacks.
The European Union will never, of course, succeed in preventing all natural disasters, but our duty is to help the Europeans who are hit by these tragedies and to coordinate our efforts more effectively in such cases. That is why, despite the reluctance of some Member States, we must also support the creation of a permanent European civil protection force, the famous ‘Green Helmets’. Let us also support the less controversial creation of an operations centre for the management of major crises.
As you can see, Commissioner - and, in saying this, I am responding to a fear expressed by Mrs Haug, which I share - we are not calling here for more Europe, but for a better Europe."@en1
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