Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-12-Speech-1-156"
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"en.20060612.20.1-156"2
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"Mr President, may I too express my thanks to the rapporteur, Mr Seeber, for his work. There can be no doubt that we must do something to prevent these flood disasters. In my opinion, however, we could also achieve adequate flood protection in Europe without a directive on the assessment and management of floods. That is my firm conviction. The Commission, as we all know, originally announced a communication, not a directive. We as politicians have a duty, now more than ever, to avoid unnecessary red tape in the form of European directives. For this reason I actually believe that we can achieve the same ends by other means, such as enhanced cooperation.
One thing must, in any case, be clear: if we have to adopt a directive, it must take account of the Member States’ previous efforts. This is the protection of previous work to which the rapporteur also referred. If the aim of a new directive is already being pursued by Member States with the aid of appropriate measures, we in the European institutions should respect that. It is therefore absolutely imperative that consideration be given to efforts which Member States are already making.
If Member States have already compiled flood maps for particular areas or in cases where a risk assessment has already been carried out, such work should not be devalued by directives, and there must be no obligation on these states to compile new maps or carry out new risk assessments. That would create too much bureaucracy, which is something we must and will combat.
For this reason, may I ask the House to support Amendment 71 in tomorrow’s plenary vote. This amendment, which was adopted by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, provides, among other things, for the Member States to opt against compiling flood-risk management plans if they already possess plans with which the aims of the directive can be effectively pursued. That is subsidiarity; that is flexibility.
I would have liked to see more of that kind of flexibility, however. Local stakeholders should be able to decide, for example, which scale is most suitable for the mapping of each part of the river for the purposes of preventive flood management. That is one of the reasons why I am actually opposed in principle to a directive."@en1
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