Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-423"
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"en.20071113.37.2-423"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this excellent report by our colleague Mr Vakalis links in seamlessly to the three reports on natural disasters adopted by Parliament last year and is an important addition to them, for these previous reports did not deal with the issue of earthquakes. We know, however, that many countries and regions – especially in southern Europe and the Mediterranean region — have a high risk of earthquakes. I therefore endorse the rapporteur's call for the Commission to draw up a communication evaluating the hazards posed by earthquakes and proposing the counter- and follow-up measures necessary to address them, as it recently did in the case of floods.
The question of financing is key, of course, and as the rapporteur on the Solidarity Fund, I cannot understand why the Council is still dragging its feet on – indeed, has in effect shelved – the adaptation of the Solidarity Fund, which this House has endorsed. Immediate action is required here to ensure that this solidarity and funding instrument is available in future so that the damage caused by natural disasters, including earthquakes, can be remedied quickly, efficiently and flexibly. Without this flexibility, particularly in terms of the timetables and measures for funding, it has been shown in the past that the needs of earthquake victims have been virtually ignored.
We must consider – as the previous speaker has said – that the Solidarity Fund that is currently still in place has only been used once in relation to earthquake damage. However, earthquakes are just as much natural disasters as floods, forest fires and storms. There are other forms of financing, in addition to direct funding, which should be used as well, however, such as regional state subsidies or loans from the European Investment Fund. This is the only way to ensure that appropriate resources are available to tackle earthquakes. The report makes a good contribution to this process."@en1
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