Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-21-Speech-3-336"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2008-05-21"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Natural disaster in China (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20080521.24.3-336"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2008-05-21-Speech-3-3372
lpv:speaker	lp:Dirk Sterckx2
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; Temporary Committee on Climate Change (2007-05-10--2009-02-04)3 unknown; Open VLD (2008-04-18--2009-07-13)3 member_of_the_bureau; ALDE (2004-07-20--2009-07-13)3 substitute; Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 chair; Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China (2007-03-14--2009-07-13)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees, and for relations with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2004-09-15--2009-07-13)3 substitute; ITRE (2007-01-31--2009-07-13)3 member; Conference of Delegation Chairs (2004-09-22--2009-07-13)3 member; TRAN (2007-01-31--2009-07-13)3
lpv:translated text	". First of all, I should like to express my sympathy with all the victims on behalf of our Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. I also endorse the period of mourning that the Chinese Government has announced. On Monday, before coming to Strasbourg, I went to sign the book of condolence at the Representation to the EU in Brussels, on behalf of the Delegation for Relations with China and I assume also on behalf of Parliament as a whole. Last week the bureau of the Delegation met the Chinese ambassador and he told me how much he appreciated the European Parliament support. We are facing an enormous and serious disaster. Tens of thousands of people are dead or still missing, millions homeless, property damage on a scale that is barely calculable at the moment. We have not seen in China what we saw in Burma, as discussed in the previous debate. Here we see a country where everyone, from the highest to the lowest level, is doing everything possible to help and to see that anything that can still be saved is saved. I also see a country that has very openly communicated, and continues to communicate, the pain and despair of the people in Sichuan and the problems the rescue teams are facing, rescue teams that have even lost a couple of lives. I see a country that is even open to the criticism the victims of the disaster had of the aid effort, a picture that we are also very familiar with whenever something similar happens here. Madam President, we have to look to the future. I think China has asked us for very specific types of aid. I see that we are showing solidarity and I am grateful to the Commission and the Council for what they have done. I urge them to provide further help when the Chinese ask for it. When the rescue effort is over, rebuilding will have to begin, and there again we have to be able to help as much as possible. In the longer term, I would ask that we look into how we can provide technical assistance, with building regulations and techniques that make buildings more resistant to this kind of occurrence. It might also be a task for the international community to look at what we can do to set up a sort of early warning system, a system that warns people before these disasters. We have to at least try to develop that. I think there are quite a number of regions in the world that might benefit from that. At any rate, I think it is important that we in the European Parliament have shown our solidarity with the Chinese in this debate."@en1

Named graphs describing this resource:

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph