Brussels, 11/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - At its plenary on Thursday 11 March 2010, the European Parliament adopted a resolution (by 474 votes for, 7 against and 50 abstentions) on the recent natural disaster in the Portuguese autonomous island of Madeira and the impact of Hurricane Xynthia in Europe. The EP believes that it is vital for new rules to be introduced for allocating Solidarity Fund aid in order to provide more flexible and effective solutions to the problems generated by natural disasters.
The European Parliament invites the Commission and Member States to provide support for people affected by the social and economic consequences of natural disasters, urging the Commission to: (1) take the necessary measures as soon as possible to provide urgent EU Solidarity Fund aid in as flexible a manner as possible once the governments of the countries in question have submitted their requests; (2) take an open and flexible approach to negotiations with the authorities over the review of INTERVIR + regional operational programmes (the European Regional Development Fund/ERDF) and RUMOS (European Social Fund/ESF) and their French equivalents, and the section covering Madeira in the 'thematic programmes to make the most of the territory' funded by the EU Cohesion Fund; and (3) carry out the review as soon as possible and examine the option of increasing EU funding in 2010 for specific programmes under the countries' operational programmes in line with the rules and upper limits specified in the general regulation on the 2007-2013 Structural Funds and without impacting on the annual funding allocated to the Member States in question. This issue was requested by every MEP who spoke in the debate in plenary. The EP invites Member States and the regions in question to introduce recovery and rehabilitation programmes for the regions in question and to examine the need for long-term investment in disaster prevention and to limit the impact of natural disasters.
Two amendments were adopted and added to the Resolution: (1) one from the Greens/EFA stating that the national and regional governments should introduce effective prevention strategies as a matter of priority and pay more attention to the existence of legislation and suitable reforesting practices, soil management, water management and proper risk management, covering areas like building on the seafront, building dykes and ensuring suitable farming and forestry practices; (2) one from the GUE/NGL group calling for all the recommendations set out in the White Paper on adjusting to climate change to be put into practice and for determined action to adjust to the impact of climate change becoming a reality in the EU.(G.B. trans fl)