European Parliament resolution on flooding in the South of France
C 296/208 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 18. 10. 2000 Thursday 16 December 1999 6. Decides that it is politically relevant to send its own parliamentary delegation to the next working session of the preparatory commission, which will finalise the annexes to the Court’s Statute shortly in New York, and asks parliaments of Member States to send parliamentary observers to the Preparatory Commission; 7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the parliaments of the Member States, the governments and parliaments of applicant countries, and to the Secretary-Gen- eral of the United Nations. 17. Natural disasters: France B5-0334, 0345, 0374 and 0387/1999 European Parliament resolution on flooding in the South of France The European Parliament, A. having regard to the particularly severe weather conditions and the exceptional rain in the South of France, in four départements in particular (Tarn, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and Hérault) in the night of Friday to Saturday, 12 to 13 November 1999, B. whereas several dozen people were killed, C. whereas thousands of people in the region are still facing hardship, enormous damage has been caused to road and transport infrastructure, many homes have been destroyed and there are serious economic and social consequences for the inhabitants, businesses and farms, D. having regard to the scale of the disaster and the funds which have been made available to restore normal living conditions, Expresses its sympathy and support for the families of the victims and with the people who have 1. been injured; 2. Welcomes the Commission’s undertaking to Parliament on 16 November 1999 to adjust and adapt the funding allocated to France to cope with the urgency of the situation; 3. Calls on the Commission to take exceptional emergency aid measures to assist the victims of this natural disaster and to supplement the action taken by the French government and the local authorities by using the facilities afforded by the Structural Funds, in particular by redeploying the outstanding bal- ance on the 1994-1999 programming period; 4. Believes that the new regional development programme for 2000-2006 financed by the Structural Funds should include substantial funding aimed at preventing natural disasters and systematic prior evalu- ation of the environmental impact of the projects financed; 5. Calls on the Commission, in view of the damage suffered by the region, to make particularly sure that the four départements are properly taken into account when the zones eligible for Structural Funds are defined for the period 2000-2006; 6. Calls on the Commission to submit to the Council a proposal for a decision to release exceptional Community aid for the reconstruction of disaster areas, identical to the aid which certain Member States have benefited from in comparable situations; 7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the members of the regional council and local councils of the départements of Tarn, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales and Hérault