Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-414"
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"en.20071113.37.2-414"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I requested this report after I made the following discovery: although earthquakes in the 20th century have killed 1.5 million people worldwide and injured many more; although earthquakes are the second most deadly natural disaster in the world; and although in 2002-2007, earthquakes were the fourth most frequent natural disaster in the Member States and the candidate countries, we in the EU responded to the problem only occasionally and peripherally, and only in the context of other natural disasters.
Madam President, Commissioner, the report to be approved tomorrow by this Parliament makes specific proposals. We – both the Commission and the Member States – wish to respond to them immediately and take action in accordance with each party’s responsibilities.
Let me conclude by thanking the shadow rapporteurs for their excellent cooperation, and also my fellow Members in all political groups who have improved my original proposal through their interventions and amendments.
I now feel vindicated and satisfied that my report has been approved by the Committee on Regional Development and enjoys the support of all the political groups. The European Parliament’s message is clear: in future we, the EU, must not and cannot deal with the problem of earthquakes intermittently and peripherally; we must focus on it as a distinct, separate problem and examine all of its individual aspects and components.
In particular, the report asks the Commission to waste no time in preparing a communication containing an earthquake risk assessment and an examination of prevention, management, relief and restoration measures. In other words, the communication has to be equivalent to that on floods. The European Parliament expects the Commission to examine, at least within the scope of such a communication, a number of proposals contained in the report.
Firstly, the adoption of earthquake protection measures should in future be an essential requirement for the funding of infrastructure from the Structural Funds, especially in view of the fact that earthquakes threaten the overall economic and social cohesion of the regions affected. Earthquakes are, above all, a threat to life and limb, infrastructure, employment, the environment, cultural heritage and tourism.
Secondly, we should promote the construction of new buildings, as well as the conservation and upgrading of old buildings and structures, which include monuments that are not compliant with earthquake specifications.
Thirdly, the European Commission should ensure that more funds are allocated to public information and the training of professionals dealing with earthquakes.
Fourthly, a European strategy for earthquake research should be developed. Account should be taken of not only the social but also the economic benefits that such action entails.
Fifthly, a technical protocol should be drawn up on joint action by the EU in the event of serious seismic disasters, with particular emphasis on the crucial infrastructures of transport, energy, telecommunications and health.
Lastly, the Barnier proposal should be revived. There should also be a follow-up to the Sarkozy-Karamanlis proposal for a European civil protection force, through a legislative – I stress the word, legislative – proposal by the Commission."@en1
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