Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-04-21-Speech-3-154"
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"en.20100421.7.3-154"2
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".
Fellow Members, very important decisions have been taken in the European Union over the past few years aimed at protecting our environment. I would mention just the decision regarding biodiversity or the Water Framework Directive. The EU’s Water Framework Directive makes Member States responsible for protecting water quality and preventing pollution. Is this a worthy goal? Yes, it is. Is it our responsibility to do everything we can in order to reach this goal? Clearly it is. Are there any mining technologies that endanger our waters and our environment? Unfortunately, there are. Moreover, there is one extremely dangerous and, at the same time, obsolete technology in particular. Along with quite a few fellow Members, I would like this technology to be banned throughout the European Union. The cyanide disaster on the Tisza River ten years ago, as well as accidents that have occurred since then, also serve as reminders of this problem.
Ladies and gentlemen, the present moment is one that is both fortunate and pressing. Fortunate, because according to the information received from the Commission, today only three countries still use this cyanide-based mining technology, and it is fortunate also because there are three other countries that have banned cyanide mining technology, thus setting an example for the other EU Member States. At the same time, it is also pressing since, on account of the rising price of gold, there are plans to open new mines throughout Europe using this dangerous and obsolete technology. This represents a serious threat to our environment.
Ladies and gentlemen, if we are serious about the need to protect our waters, we cannot create cyanide-poisoned lakes alongside our rivers and lakes. Yet this is the result of this obsolete technology. If we are serious about safeguarding biodiversity, we cannot allow the use of technologies that can kill all forms of life in our rivers, from micro-organisms to crabs and fish. The time is ripe, distinguished fellow Members, to take action. Let us not wait for a new catastrophe to warn us of this.
Finally, please allow me to thank all those fellow Members who are present and those who will participate in the debate, but who are unable to be here due to the eruption of the volcano, who have done a lot to help prepare this proposal for a decision, and thanks to whom we were able to present this House with a joint proposal for a text that is the fruit of compromise and that is supported not only by the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) but also the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformists. I believe that, given the seriousness of the matter, this is absolutely justified. I would ask my fellow Members to continue their support through the final stage of the decision-making process."@en1
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