Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-12-Speech-1-134"
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"en.20071112.20.1-134"2
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"Madam President, let me start by thanking the European Parliament and especially the rapporteurs, Mrs Gutiérrez-Cortines and Mr Prodi, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and the other committees, for their contribution during first reading.
Thirdly, degraded soils should where possible be restored on the basis of an analysis of soil condition, to be carried out by the Member States. The aim of the restoration should be to achieve soil quality consistent at least with the current and intended use of the land.
Fourthly, minimum common rules should be adopted for the EU as a whole to ensure a consistent approach among the Member States on matters of soil protection. These common rules will help establish transparency and avoid distortion of the internal market.
The aim of the strategy and the directive is to launch a long-term policy on soil protection in Europe, so that in a few years, time all the Member States will have made considerable progress in this area.
I should like to draw your attention to certain key aspects of the framework directive on soil protection:
Firstly, the document produced after the codecision process has to be unambiguous and provide legal clarity for the interested parties affected by this legislative process. We must avoid introducing amendments with legal loopholes, unnecessarily restricting the scope of the directive.
Secondly, the proposal already contains a high degree of subsidiarity and flexibility. I understand that certain amendments are being proposed to increase still further the degree of subsidiarity. However, you must be sure that these amendments will not create difficulties in the application of the directive by all Member States. This applies especially to the amendments concerning programmes of measures in the priority areas specified in the directive.
Thirdly, in order to achieve a high degree of environmental protection, we must agree on a consistent approach to be followed by all Member States for the identification of contaminated soils. The proposed deletion of Annex II would prevent us from achieving our aim.
To conclude, let me state that from now on the Commission will follow developments during the discussion of its proposal in the Council and in the European Parliament. It will then define its position accordingly.
The Commission’s proposal for a thematic strategy for soil protection arises from work begun in 1998 on the initiative of the German Ministry of the Environment. As a result of lengthy consultations with interested parties and the Member States, soil was recognised as a valuable natural resource and its degradation in Europe is becoming problematic. The Commission has subsequently collaborated with the parties involved, above all with Parliament and the Council, so that soil protection issues can be better understood and a consensus can be reached in this area.
Τhe Parliament resolution on the 2002 Communication on soil protection made important recommendations to the Commission about the direction it must take to ensure proper soil protection in Europe. With the conclusions approved in Majorca in 2002, the European Council asked the Commission to propose a comprehensive, far-reaching strategy on soil protection embracing general principles, appropriate quantitative and qualitative targets, and schedules for gauging and evaluating the planned measures.
Let me turn to some more specific issues. I find it very satisfying that soil degradation is recognised as a grave problem that must be overcome. In view of the present Parliament’s keen interest in desertification, for example, it is important that here in Europe we should openly declare our commitment to dealing with the causes of this problem, both in Europe and around the world. Climate change and certain unsuitable soil management practices are putting our soil at risk. Determining the extent of degradation and then developing methods to ensure that soil is used sustainably represents a direct application of the knowledge-based approach that Parliament rightly values. Thus efforts will be guaranteed to be more focused and resources will be used more effectively to serve our purposes.
Businesses are entitled to expect consistent application of Community legislation by Member States. In the environmental impact analysis prepared by the Commission, it is estimated that there are about 3.5 million sites in the EU likely to have become contaminated. A proportion of these, perhaps 15%, have definitely been contaminated. It is therefore vital that businesses should be confident that similar procedures will be adopted for the designation of contaminated sites, thus allowing for planned investments.
We must also bear in mind that there is a direct relationship between climate change and soil. For example, according to a recent research article published in the authoritative international scientific journal
over the past 25 years in the United Kingdom alone, the soil has been releasing 13 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year - as much as would be given off by an additional 5 million cars each year. It is also worth noting that the soil’s ability to absorb carbon and convert it into useful humus has not yet been fully exploited.
In the light of this, allow me to summarise the basic aims of the measures proposed by the Commission:
Firstly, a highly flexible, but consistent and comprehensive European soil policy must be developed. With the creation of a framework for sustainable soil use, and with the adoption of measures at source, this policy will prevent further degradation of the soil, whose vitally important social, environmental and economic functions will be preserved.
Secondly, the necessary information on the condition of soil in Europe must be gathered so that we can make knowledge-based policy decisions and focus our efforts where the most serious degradation has been noted."@en1
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