Marcello Vernola, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, following on from what Mr Papadimoulis said with regard to the additions that the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety made to the Commission proposal through the principle of extending the scope of the regulation to include marine pollution, I should like to add that there are currently no other specific instruments designed to manage the consequences resulting from marine disasters.

Having expressed all but unanimous support for the work done by Mr Papadimoulis, the Committee for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety approved other specific amendments that I tabled, including the centrality of environmental issues in the management of disasters. The Commission has been asked to ensure, within the scope of the various Community mechanisms and instruments in the field of civil protection, that greater attention is paid to those regions that are isolated and more remote due to geographical, territorial and socio-economic characteristics and to integrate civil protection measures into teaching modules and communication and information campaigns with a view to increasing awareness of the need to prevent, prepare for, and respond rapidly to, major emergencies and to guaranteeing the involvement of civil society in prevention and response measures. In other words, we need to focus on young people and on education in schools.

A final important amendment was approved by the Committee for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, namely the one designed to raise the profile of voluntary work, whether done by groups or individual citizens, since volunteers can provide vital services in the absence of the emergency services, which may be delayed in the wake of a major catastrophe. I believe that, with these proposals, the regulation adopts a far broader outlook in terms of the management of major emergencies.