Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-03-Speech-1-072"
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"en.20070903.16.1-072"2
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"Mr President, scientists have predicted that within a matter of decades the Mediterranean will turn into desert. The environmental disaster that the forest fires have inflicted on Greece, and the fires in other Mediterranean countries, are enough to convince me that this prediction will be realised if global warming and extreme weather phenomena continue.
This threat to the European Union should be seen as no less serious than terrorism, illegal immigration, organised crime, etc. We in the European Union must therefore act jointly to confront it.
I welcome Mr Špidla’s announcement that the Commission’s communication is being drafted. I hope that the Commission will engage the most competent and specialised personnel on matters of forest protection and forest fire control in order to improve forest fire-fighting techniques.
However, I believe that the European Union should also encourage research into the development of aerial fire-fighting resources capable of operating nocturnally. How absurd that military aircraft should be able to operate at night, whereas aerial fire-fighting resources used against such a serious direct threat to the whole of Europe should not.
A further issue is the Natura 2000 programme, of which our forests are part. We should rationally scrutinise this programme, which prohibits the creation of fire belts and access paths for fire-fighting vehicles. The fact of the matter is that we are losing forests in a bid to save trees. Let us re-examine this matter.
Lastly, I believe that these studies, which are to be carried out across Europe, should lay even greater emphasis on reforestation and environmental restoration in the wake of such ecological disasters."@en1
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