Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, following many legislative initiatives, recommendations and studies, the European Commission has promoted a thematic strategy for soil protection. The first point of reference – which I believe to be fundamental – is that the soil is a limited source of wealth, the basis of agriculture and production, of food and support for the landscape. However, perhaps because the horizon always seems infinite, society finds it difficult to understand and accept that it is a limited resource and we therefore have to protect it like any other resource. This document not only deals with the protection of the soil, but also the conservation of the earth and the landscape, it is intended to guarantee the safety and health of citizens and prevent all types of risk. I therefore congratulate the Commission on its work. It is a well-produced document, the departure point is coherent and it represents many years of work and I believe that work is continuing in this direction. Although the text does not have regulatory status – and I would like to stress this – it is a background document which will lead to many actions, directives and recommendations and lays out the key issues which affect the future of the conservation of soils and the landscape. It is what we might call the Commission’s invisible lever which it sometimes uses to create thinking and attitudes in relation to problems. As a thematic strategy it intends to implement a scientific policy and carry out much more firm, consistent and coherent work than has been done until now. It intends to detect the cause-effect relationship, the impacts. We also take this approach, we recommend a recognition of the different nature of each soil, of its distinct typology, of the diversity of soils and the application of measures, solutions and methods suited to the site and the characteristics of the location. As we have said many times, sustainable development requires a made-to-measure approach and all scientific work has to be appropriate for the reality. This means that we are entering a complex area and that the Commission accepts the difficult challenge of implementing a policy on soils which recognises the diversity of each place, each region and each climate. What is Parliament contributing? Parliament insists on the need for referenced and official catalogues and it provides the Commission with several mandates so that, as soon as possible, it may provide a model for catalogues which can be produced in all regions and all countries, which is accessible, geodifferentiated, and always in computerised and compatible form. These catalogues must include a biography of soils, typologies, structures and other variables as well as the uses, possible risks and historic, landscape or cultural values, highlighting the risks of any nature. I would urge the Commission to develop the draft INSPIRE Directive for the establishment of an infrastructure for a European area of information, which is essential as an instrument for developing these areas and which, at the time, was approved by three Directorate-Generals. I would recommend much more precise research in certain fields. We insist on the need to exchange information and research on the use of agriculture. There are many forms of agriculture, and most of them are beneficial to the soil, to its conservation, to prevent erosion, to the maintenance of organic material. I believe the time has come to put an end, scientifically, to the common belief that agriculture is bad for the soil. There are many good forms of agriculture and we must identify them and support them, especially if we want to introduce this issue into the CAP. Research programmes are recommended which offer solutions and not just diagnoses and classifications, as has been the case until now. I would like to focus on two issues, which are innovative: the commitment to studying the desertification and the relationship with the variables which cause it, such as climate change. I believe that Parliament must continue to insist on relating water to desertification, the problems of the aquifers, the need to provide new resources, the need to look after these climatic spaces and the advance of the desert. With regard to sealing relating to territorial plans, I would say that although soil sealing and the advance of urbanisation – which in many cases is excessive and uncontrolled – and the loss of soil we are experiencing – which is sometimes dramatic in certain places – is a subsidiary issue, the Commission must, in this case, show new leadership, use these invisible levers which it exercises in certain fields, presenting proposals for good practices. It must insist that there can be no possible conservation of soil unless we include it in land management. All good plans and all management plans must include a catalogue of soils and an assessment of them, because that is the only way to prevent floods, to prevent building in storm drains and in Habitat or Natura areas. And in this regard we will support the Commission. It is necessary to implement a soil policy which can really deal with the issue of regional support and support from the States.

Political group: PPE-DE