Portuguese MEPs insisted this Tuesday on the need for more investments from the European Union (EU) to prevent natural disasters and dramatized that catastrophic weather phenomena are already part of the daily lives of European citizens.
“Every year we regret the fires, the drought, the deaths, the floods,” began the social democrat José Manuel Fernandes, who is part of the political family of the European People’s Party (EPP), during a debate in the European Parliament (EP). . ) in Strasbourg, on the prevention of disasters such as heat waves, floods and forest fires.
“More than words,” the MEP continued, actions are needed and the 27 “are not doing what they are supposed to do”: “We are not short of money, you have storms of millions.”
And he criticized the socialist Government of Portugal for rejecting “8.3 billion euros for the credit aspect of the Recovery and Resilience Plan.” [PRR] that could be useful to me”, from the perspective of José Manuel Fernandes for “forest planning, helping the rural world” and preparing for dry seasons with irrigation aid.
Despite criticism of national political decisions, at the European level there seems to be consensus on the matter.
Socialist MEP Sara Cerdas, of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), called for “greater preparation” among the 27 and “more effective responses” that can minimize the consequences of increasingly severe weather phenomena.
“Extreme heat waves, floods and forest fires are already part of our daily lives,” so he called for more measures and quickly.
Communist MEP João Pimenta Lopes, from the left in the EP, highlighted the lack of adequate funding and “support for disaster prevention”, which has consequences for the majority of EU citizens.
“Instead, we see the reduction or diversion of cohesion funds and other funds to feed the profits of, among others, energy and arms groups,” he added.
Much of the territory of the European Union countries has been affected by extreme weather events in recent years. In the last four months, for example, there have been heat waves across the EU, floods and large forest fires that have destroyed homes and resulted in casualties.
Source: TSF
