Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-12-Speech-1-171"
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"en.20060612.20.1-171"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, it has been a case of ‘water, water everywhere’ this evening, with no end in sight! I welcome the call for international coordination of flood-risk management measures, and I thank my honourable colleague Mr Seeber for his balanced report. Water knows no boundaries, not only groundwater but also, and especially, the water carried by rivers, and for many of these rivers there are already cross-border plans and, as a result, cross-border measures too.
Anyone who looks at the Rhine and the Moselle, which flows through my native region, as international European rivers will be aware that flood problems can only be tackled through the joint action of all the riparian states. If you observed people’s responses to flooding in our area, you might think that the inhabitants of the Moselle area had mastered flood management, that they had, as it were, become well practised in the art. However, anyone whose family has ever had to clear out their cellar, barn or indeed their entire dwelling on hearing an announcement from Trier that the water level is set to rise within the next hour by a certain number of centimetres, knowing that this will bring it into the hallway of their home – and thank God we can obtain such accurate information these days – will know what it means to be on constant standby whenever there is heavy or prolonged rainfall and will know all about the physical effort, the cost and the time involved in coping with these trials and tribulations. No region ever gets used to floods.
Now we have been struggling with these problems for many years and during that time have found cross-border allies too. There have been rewarding experiences upon which we can build. Prevention and management in areas prone to flooding must be the task of the competent local bodies operating on the basis of internationally harmonised rules. In line with the aim of cutting red tape, the obligations of all authorities and tiers of government to the Commission must be kept to a minimum."@en1
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