Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-03-Speech-1-061"
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"en.20070903.16.1-061"2
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"Mr President, today we mourn 65 people who died in the flames of the uncontrolled fires in Greece. We have witnessed the frightful destruction, in a single week, of more than 12% of Greece’s total forest area, which is Europe’s forest heritage.
· fourthly, illegal building on burnt land should be strictly prohibited;
· fifthly, the long-awaited creation in Greece itself of an independent Environment Ministry should be put into effect.
What conclusions can we draw? This tragedy was not, unfortunately, inevitable. The Greek Government itself had foreseen it in its recent report to the Commission; it acknowledged a dangerous lack of coordination between ministries and the absence of prevention plans. Yet Greece, as the report itself emphasises, had seen a spectacular improvement in the effectiveness of forest protection between 2001 and 2004. Nor was the number of simultaneous outbreaks of fire unprecedented. In 2000 there was a similar number of outbreaks but the outcome was completely different.
The Greek tragedy of 2007 reminds us that there will always be fires, just as there will always be arsonists. The key requirement, then, is that there should also be strict policies on the prevention and suppression of fires. We should examine Greece’s problems, not in order to condemn, but to prevent similar disasters in the future. For the Europe of 2007, 65 deaths are unacceptable.
At a time of great disaster, those in power should feel not only a sense of grief, but also a sense of responsibility. Of course, responsibility for the fires does not lie with this House, but as MEPs, we have a responsibility to ensure that Europe releases aid immediately, without bureaucratic obstacles, for the regeneration of the stricken areas. We also have a responsibility to draw all the necessary conclusions from the problems involved in preventing and controlling these fires, so that Greece and other EU Member States never experience such a tragedy again.
We PASOK MEPs would like to thank all our colleagues in various political parties who have telephoned and sent messages of support to Greek citizens. We would like to thank Martin Schulz, who immediately visited our country and who, together with Giorgos Papandreou, took steps to communicate the situation and to secure European assistance. In addition, we would like to thank all the European governments that have sent help, and also the Commission for its coordinating role.
Commissioner, I welcome the commitments you have made today, as requested both by the Socialists and by other political groups. The Solidarity Fund must finally be reformed so that it can provide real and immediate assistance. I particularly applaud the fact that the Commission is looking favourably on the proposal to release funds from the Third Community Support Framework. In the midst of such a tragedy, let us keep a close eye on the money for the victims: it is in danger of being lost through incompetent handling.
Lastly, I totally agree that a rapid-response team should be set up, not to replace the responsibilities of national governments, but to assist them in coping with terrible disasters.
Hope may grow out of disaster, but in order for this to happen, the following requirements must be met:
· firstly, the burnt areas must be transformed into global models of sustainable, dynamic development, with no environmental throwbacks;
· secondly, there must be mass reforestation;
· thirdly, there must be no more discussion of declassification of forest land, because this simply plays into the hands of anyone inclined to commit arson;"@en1
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