Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-04-Speech-3-351"
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"en.20090204.19.3-351"2
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"Mr President, the European Commission wishes to express its sadness at the number of lives claimed by storm Klaus and sends its condolences to the French, Italian and Spanish families that have lost loved ones. This is indeed a human tragedy, which has had a devastating impact on people’s lives, homes and businesses. It is also an ecological disaster.
These initiatives are contributing to shape a genuine European disaster management policy, and the Commission hopes that the European Parliament will continue to support its efforts to reinforce the EU’s capacity to deal with natural and man-made disasters.
While this storm was extremely powerful, it only affected a narrow band of territory, and national resources have been able to cope with the immediate disaster response.
For this reason, the Community Civil Protect Mechanism was not activated. However, the Commission’s Monitoring and Information Centre has been in close contact with the concerned Member States from the first moments when the storm was forecast.
Other Member States were aware of the situation and were getting prepared to provide support to the affected regions. For example, the Czech Republic spontaneously offered its assistance.
The Commission is now cooperating with the authorities of the Member States affected in order to identify options for EU support. Possibilities may include through the EU Solidarity Fund or a reprogramming of the structural and rural development funds.
Storm Klaus is an unpleasant reminder that natural disasters are a growing threat for all EU Member States. Devastating floods hit Central Europe in 2000 and 2002, the UK in 2007, and Romania and EU neighbours last year. The 2003 heatwave claimed tens of thousands of lives. In 2003 and 2007 forest fires ravaged Portugal and Greece. These events give us an idea of how climate change is likely to affect the EU’s future because, as the climate changes, we can expect more extreme weather events.
The Member States and the Community need to combine their strengths to prevent disasters, to limit their impacts and to improve the Union’s disaster response capacity.
The Commission will shortly adopt a Communication on ‘a Community approach on the prevention of natural and man-made disasters’. We look forward to receiving feedback from Parliament on the ideas that are set out.
The Commission would also stress the importance of moving forward on the revision of the Solidarity Fund regulation. The proposal helps to accelerate the rate of response by allowing for advance payments, and it contains simpler criteria for an activation of the Fund in less time. While Parliament largely supported the Commission proposal, there has been no progress in the Council."@en1
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