Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-04-Speech-4-055"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080904.5.4-055"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, can I say to the President-in-Office that it is very nice of her to put the ball rolling onto the playing field, but can I suggest that she take it back and put it in the box? Because, in my view, we really do not need this directive. I think the previous Council had it absolutely right when they said they did not want it. I echo very much the words of Jan Mulder that we do already have the Nitrates Directive and the Groundwater Directive. All these things are beginning to take action on the soil and making sure we are cleaning up our soils throughout the European Union.
I agree with Graefe zu Baringdorf that the farmers are indeed the custodians of the soil and that soil is so important for everything we grow, but do we actually need a soil directive? The problem with this soil directive is that it has been far too all-encompassing. We are trying to deal with industrial land and industrial pollution; we are talking about urban development and then about agricultural land and agricultural soils.
It is just nonsense to actually bring in legislation like this at this stage. I think one of the problems we have here in the European Union – and I think we do it out of the very best of intentions – is that if we need to do something, we immediately legislate. I do not think so. I think we have to pause for a moment and reflect. I think the Council got it right. I suggest that it is not time to bring this back. I would suggest that it goes back to a new Commission and the new Council in the next parliamentary session. They can look again to see what is happening.
I would encourage Member States that do not have controls over the use of industrial land and over pollution from industry to actually put those in place at the national level. Let us not interfere from the European level because I do not believe we need it. I think we want to make sure that we do not have the level of bureaucracy that we are getting. People are absolutely fed up to their back teeth with further bureaucracy. So I would say to the President-in-Office: please do not set the ball rolling; take it back again."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples