The European Parliament passed a resolution on the natural disasters of fires and floods in Europe this summer, and expressed its solidarity with and its deepest sympathy for all the families of those who lost their lives and the inhabitants of the areas affected during this tragic summer and paid tribute to the devotion of the firefighters and civilians who risked their lives putting out the fires. It welcomed the solidarity shown by the EU and its Member States with the affected regions, in both the Member States and the candidate countries, and the valuable assistance offered to their authorities and emergency services.

Parliament expressed its concern at the increasing number of natural disasters, attributed to a large extent by the experts to climate change, given the aggravation of extreme events. The Kyoto Protocol continues to be the central tool of the global strategy to halt climate change. Parliament called on the Commission to take steps to ensure respect for the undertakings made at Kyoto and in its follow-up.

The Solidarity Fund rules should be amended as a matter of urgency so as to clearly include aid to populations hit by disasters such as drought or forest fires and to oblige national authorities to inform citizens about Community financial assistance and make this assistance visible in individual projects. Such aid must be applied immediately to areas and countries affected.

Parliament went on to call on the Commission and the Member States to work towards closer cooperation on civil protection measures in the event of natural disasters with a view to minimising their devastating impact. This should be done by providing the services concerned with the necessary early warning, coordination and logistical tools, in particular by making available additional civil protection resources for major emergencies and creating a European Civil Protection Corps, taking special account of the vulnerabilities of border zones. In addition, the Council should not disregard the need for long-term investments for policies to prevent such disasters, and should abandon its strategy of limiting the future financial perspective to 1% of EU GNI.

Parliament also called on the Commission to:

-undertake a detailed analysis of the causes, consequences and repercussions of this summer's fires, especially for Europe's forests;

-ensure that the reforestation of affected areas is based on respect for their bio-climatic and environmental features;

-support measures in support of more sustainable use of water, soil and biological resources, in particular in southern Europe;

-encourage prevention measures, especially in the framework of the 'Forest Focus' Regulation and of the new European Union Forest Strategy, with a view to protecting Community forests from fires and to funding appropriate forest fire prevention measures, such as fire separators, forest paths, access points, water points and forest management programmes;

-step up research resources for flood prevention and coordinate the research already carried out in individual Member States in this area, in order to arrive as soon as possible at a coherent energy and transport policy in the area of risk prevention;

-include as an eligible expense within the appropriate financial instruments the possibility of co-financing for technical equipment, including aircraft, to prevent and combat forest fires.

For its part, Parliament undertook to take all necessary steps to ensure that a medium and long-term, future-oriented, preventive strategy on forest fires is adopted at Community level.

The European Parliament passed a resolution on the natural disasters of fires and floods in Europe this summer, and expressed its solidarity with and its deepest sympathy for all the families of those who lost their lives and the inhabitants of the areas affected during this tragic summer and paid tribute to the devotion of the firefighters and civilians who risked their lives putting out the fires. It welcomed the solidarity shown by the EU and its Member States with the affected regions, in both the Member States and the candidate countries, and the valuable assistance offered to their authorities and emergency services.

Parliament expressed its concern at the increasing number of natural disasters, attributed to a large extent by the experts to climate change, given the aggravation of extreme events. The Kyoto Protocol continues to be the central tool of the global strategy to halt climate change. Parliament called on the Commission to take steps to ensure respect for the undertakings made at Kyoto and in its follow-up.

The Solidarity Fund rules should be amended as a matter of urgency so as to clearly include aid to populations hit by disasters such as drought or forest fires and to oblige national authorities to inform citizens about Community financial assistance and make this assistance visible in individual projects. Such aid must be applied immediately to areas and countries affected.

Parliament went on to call on the Commission and the Member States to work towards closer cooperation on civil protection measures in the event of natural disasters with a view to minimising their devastating impact. This should be done by providing the services concerned with the necessary early warning, coordination and logistical tools, in particular by making available additional civil protection resources for major emergencies and creating a European Civil Protection Corps, taking special account of the vulnerabilities of border zones. In addition, the Council should not disregard the need for long-term investments for policies to prevent such disasters, and should abandon its strategy of limiting the future financial perspective to 1% of EU GNI.

Parliament also called on the Commission to:

-undertake a detailed analysis of the causes, consequences and repercussions of this summer's fires, especially for Europe's forests;

-ensure that the reforestation of affected areas is based on respect for their bio-climatic and environmental features;

-support measures in support of more sustainable use of water, soil and biological resources, in particular in southern Europe;

-encourage prevention measures, especially in the framework of the 'Forest Focus' Regulation and of the new European Union Forest Strategy, with a view to protecting Community forests from fires and to funding appropriate forest fire prevention measures, such as fire separators, forest paths, access points, water points and forest management programmes;

-step up research resources for flood prevention and coordinate the research already carried out in individual Member States in this area, in order to arrive as soon as possible at a coherent energy and transport policy in the area of risk prevention;

-include as an eligible expense within the appropriate financial instruments the possibility of co-financing for technical equipment, including aircraft, to prevent and combat forest fires.

For its part, Parliament undertook to take all necessary steps to ensure that a medium and long-term, future-oriented, preventive strategy on forest fires is adopted at Community level.