Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-12-Speech-1-153"
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"en.20071112.20.1-153"2
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"Madam President, my first thought on this proposal for a directive was to reject the text. I also think that a framework directive was perhaps not an appropriate solution.
Why have another text on the protection of soil when we already have a whole raft of regulations on soil, waste, pesticides and the protection of nature? Within the framework of better lawmaking, I was thinking that we should not appear to be going through the European Commission mill again. I was putting myself in the shoes particularly of the mayors of our municipalities, who would find themselves with another text to dissect.
However, the reality is this: human practices have not respected the soil. We have worn out the soil with intensive production. In addition to this there is climate change and desertification. Our urban planning policies have mineralised the soil, degraded it, and our fellow citizens are now surprised when they experience catastrophic flooding because the soil no longer absorbs the rain. Who has not seen the open wounds in the landscape caused by the quarries that supply us with such valuable materials?
Impoverished, dried out, degraded, polluted and bruised soil – that is what has become of this land, which previous generations spoke about with veneration because the land was everything to them: their work, their food, their life and, for many, their only property. What was once our mother Earth we now regard with suspicion. What will be the consequences of this degradation, this pollution, for our environment and health?
Mrs Gutiérrez has done a remarkable job in trying to find an acceptable approach, in trying to bring closer together those who did not want this directive and those who did. She has listened to Parliament. She has found balanced positions that respect the need for subsidiarity in the choice of methods, because there is enormous disparity between the Member States. The final text has evolved a great deal. It avoids increasing the burden of administrative costs by encouraging us to put right the mistakes of the past, our agricultural, industrial and urban practices that did not respect the soil. This report, completely remodelled by Mrs Gutiérrez, is satisfactory. There is such soil diversity in the European Union that the subsidiarity guarantee is essential, while ensuring the protection and sustainable use of the soil."@en1
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