Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-04-Speech-4-020"
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"en.20080904.4.4-020"2
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"Madam President, we are at the half-way point in this Action Plan, and it is time for a review. We are taking stock of what has been done up to now, and the question we must ask ourselves is this: have there been any visible results?
The Commission is sitting back and saying that it is satisfied. However, if the air we breathe and the water we drink are making us ill, it is high time for Europe to take action and become the driving force for a new overall approach to such health risks. That is why the Action Plan cannot be regarded as simply an add-on to existing EU policy; it must set new benchmarks.
I welcome the fact that the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety has adopted a highly critical position towards the Action Plan and has demanded major improvements. We are firmly convinced that the Action Plan is doomed to failure unless it is based on a pro-active policy of prevention, and one thing must be clear: without clear-cut quantitative goals, it will remain a paper tiger.
We are pleased that the environmental report bears a green handprint, especially when it comes to nanotechnology. It is clear that the potential new risks have not been taken into adequate account in the Action Plan. Indeed, it is scandalous that when it comes to the risks associated with nanotechnology, the European Commission is still burying its head in the sand and is claiming that the current legislation in place is quite adequate. We know that the very opposite is true. Nanotechnology is being allowed to develop in what is in effect a legal vacuum.
Then there is the issue of electrosmog: we know that electromagnetic radiation poses a major and increasing problem, so it is quite unacceptable for us, as the European Parliament, to water down limit values which are already set much too high. Yet another issue is indoor air quality: the EU has set milestones when it comes to protection against fine particles, but what about indoor air quality, given that we spend most of our time in closed rooms? The Commission cannot continue to ignore this issue.
We call on the Commission to bring forward clear legislative proposals to improve air quality in all the relevant areas: construction projects, glues used in furniture, etc.
Achieving better protection for particularly vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant women is also a matter which is very close to our hearts, and the precautionary principle should be the guiding principle for our legislation in all these areas. Naturally, we would have liked to achieve more, but we hope that the Commission will not stop at that. This area of work must not be allowed to come to a standstill, and we believe that we can take this issue forward."@en1
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