Mr President, Commissioner, streets flooded, homes invaded by mud, damaged infrastructure, people in despair: must we become accustomed to these disaster images which are sadly repeated every year? The seriousness of this sadly repeated flooding affects us deeply. I would like here to express again our deepest sympathy to all the victims, but also our gratitude to the civil defence services and volunteers, who have shown extraordinary dedication. We can only congratulate the rescue and European mutual assistance services on their good coordination, which was really effective. Our Parliament was also very active in this respect in asking for that mutual assistance to be put in place. Once again in this Chamber we are having to deal with natural disasters, the consequences of which could nevertheless be better contained. Temporarily cleaning up, immediately reinstating the infrastructures, providing temporary accommodation, all that is only repair work. But we know that repairs cost a lot more than prevention. Prevention requires political courage, a command of urban planning and coherent regional development. Prevention costs less than repair, but we still need to be able to call on the resources. It is true, as you reminded us, Commissioner, that at European level using the Structural Funds is one good way of rebuilding dykes, strengthening them, of quite simply maintaining waterways, of making retention basins. But there are two limits to this Structural Funds policy. The first lies in the fact that the Structural Funds are currently subject to the zoning rule and do not therefore place all victims on an equal footing. The second is that the amount available from these funds is not always sufficient. You only have to look at my own region, the Rhône-Alpes region, which unfortunately has not been mentioned today, even though it was severely affected at the same time as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Languedoc-Roussillon. It was stricken recently, but will have no more Structural Funds to draw on for 2003-2006: it has all been spent. I am now speaking to my parliamentary colleagues who are sometimes tempted to delete or reduce the regional policy budget. I say to them: be careful, make no mistake. This funding affects our fellow citizens very intimately, it is an expression of European solidarity, the foundation of the Union. We must all back Commissioner Barnier in his proposal to overhaul the Structural Funds. You said so yourself, Commissioner. These funds should not be constrained by zoning in future but should serve precise objectives, one of which would be concerned with the environment and risk prevention. Given the changes our planet is undergoing, we need collective courage to meet these ecological challenges. I hope that the Commission as a whole will go along with Commissioner Barnier’s proposals and that our Parliament will be able to adopt the budget the Structural Funds need. Meanwhile, we must carry out repairs with the suffering families in mind. Europe created a Solidarity Fund for regions and states that have suffered natural disasters. It must also pool the technologies for prevention, based on the successful experience of the Netherlands, for example, putting in place cross-border cooperation. I hope, Mr President, Commissioner, that we will not have debates on natural disasters in the future.

Political group: PPE-DE