Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-10-Speech-1-171"
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"en.20080310.21.1-171"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the rapporteur on the 2008 budget, Kyösti Virrankoski, has really covered all the essential points. So we are speaking today on the basis of a proposal from the Commission about the mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund in application of point 26 of the Interinstitutional Agreement.
While it is true that the Solidarity Fund and other special instruments do not represent large sums of money in relation to the general budget of the European Union, they ultimately serve to help stricken regions and their people in the event of natural disasters, and, as we all know, these disasters – be they storms or raging fires – have become a somewhat regular occurrence.
Before we took our decision, we in the Committee on Budgets made a point of holding a hearing, to which we invited representatives of the affected regions of the United Kingdom, of local organisations and also of the national administration. At that hearing we were reminded very clearly of the challenges facing the stricken people and regions and of the extent of the damage caused by the flooding in June and July 2007, estimated at a total of EUR 4.6 billion.
On the basis of this hearing and our talks, we fully endorsed the Commission’s proposal that EUR 162 387 000 be made available from the Solidarity Fund for this special case.
Let me also make a point of mentioning that we can expect further mobilisations of the Solidarity Fund in the coming months. In such cases, to be sure, it is not only the European Community that is called on to show solidarity: in view of the increased incidence of such disasters, the Member States should be giving more thought to preventive crisis management, in other words assessing the state of their civil-defence systems, checking how local fire brigades are equipped and examining how they can perhaps develop different strategies in future on issues such as building work in flood-prone areas. These things are an integral part of any long-term strategy if we want to maintain our credibility.
Another requirement – and we are somewhat better placed in this respect on the present occasion than in other cases – is that we should all make it our common aim, as a matter of basic principle, to ensure that the processing of future claims on the Solidarity Fund is completed in a maximum of six months. That is a challenge to everyone: the national authorities must submit all the requisite applications and documents within the prescribed period, the Commission must deal with the case in hand on the basis of the applicable provisions, and we in Parliament must also expedite matters by means of prompt deliberation.
Allow me to refer to one final point, which relates to the amending budget. In view of the difficult negotiations and of the pending completion of the legislative procedure on the Galileo satellite navigation system, I strongly endorse the stipulation made by the rapporteur that the budget line created for expenditure on administrative management should be a
item. That is a step in the right direction if the appropriate administrative structures are to be established within the Commission. We are not yet satisfied, however, with the arrangements for future interaction between the Commission, the European Space Agency and the Galileo Supervisory Authority.
In the course of the legislative procedure, there is a need at least to indicate a way of avoiding duplication of effort and developing the appropriate management structures in the new circumstances of the Galileo satnav system. There is still a certain need for discussion, which I hope we can satisfy as soon as possible."@en1
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