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Speech by Filiz Hyusmenova on the Vote of Non-Confidence Requested by the Opposition ... |
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Speech by Filiz Hyusmenova on the vote of non-confidence to the Sergei Stanishev Government requested by the opposition due to the policy on the natural disasters and accidents
Esteemed Mr. Chairman,
Esteemed Members of Parliament,
Esteemed Mr. Prime Minister,
Esteemed Ministers, Focusing our attention to the issue of natural disasters enables us to reach serious political decisions regarding the crisis management activities. The present vote of non-confidence is another occasion for us to remember what more could be done in a field that has been neglected for nearly fifteen years, and which was functioning on insufficient resources.
It is true that there has been no precedent for the floods of last year and this year. It will take a long time to recover from the damages on the infrastructure, agriculture, business and population that were suffered in the summer of 2005. At the same time, none of us present here will deny that the same floods also occurred in other European countries – most of them by far more advanced in terms of relevant legislation, materials and equipment.
I would qualify as unjustified the accusations made by the opposition regarding the lack of preventive measures in the field of natural disasters that had to be taken by the former government. It is an established practice that 10% of the budget of the state Committee on Policy on Natural Disasters and Accidents be allocated for prevention. Trainings have been regularly organized at enterprises and state institutions. Bulgarian teams participated in international trainings in the field of civil protection.
The state Committee restored the activity of the Scientific Steering Committee. Thus the best Bulgarian experts in this area renewed their projects in support of the crisis management activities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ten percent of a total annual budget of 55 million leva is too scarce. But this is exactly the amount available to the chairman of the committee. In order to clarify why were the funds for recovering the damages insufficient, I will only tell you that the requests filed for just one month by municipalities, agencies, ministries and citizens amounted to the annual budget of the Committee.
Under these conditions the experts – representatives of different ministries – had to distinguish the significant from the non-significant issues. That is why the principle of assigning priorities was adopted. These were as follows: infrastructure, state and municipal property, schools, hospitals, child care facilities. At the same time, the regulation on the Committee activities, developed in 1998, would not allow direct provision of funds to citizens who have suffered damages from natural disasters. As a rule, funds were to be provided only for emergency and immediate actions, and not for planned activities. The same regulation lists the obligations of the mayors and regional governors in case of a natural disaster.
The lack of a unified crisis management system also contributed to the failure to handle large scale crises. Another factor that also made the situation worse is the lack of legislation identifying clearly the responsibilities. The Law on Crisis Management adopted by the 39th National Assembly did not work. I am not even talking here about the lack of modern equipment and other resources needed to form specialized units.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of Parliament,
It was these facts and the severe conditions during the last-year floods that lead to the political decision made by the new government of the tripartite coalition about forming a ministry that shall be responsible for the coordination of these activities. And we approved this idea here, at the Bulgarian Parliament. Because there was an immediate need for introducing a unified mechanism for crisis coordination and management.
The Parliamentary Group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is confident that the new ministry will be able to form a team of experts and will develop and efficient and adequate crisis management system. Even at the end of 2005, the Ministry of State Policy on Natural Disasters and Accidents submitted to the Council of Ministers a Concept on Protection against Natural Disasters and Accidents. The concept read that “the state shall guarantee the safety of the population also by preventive actions for limiting the consequences and for rapid recovery from natural disasters and accidents and other critical situations.” This document became the basis for the development and approval of the National Strategy and Action Plan, which will be secured with funding from the budget. The main goals comprise establishment of a unified system for protection of the population, development of an early signalization system, allocation of responsibilities for the protection measures, involving the civil society through voluntary associations.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Parliament Members,
In my capacity of a former minister who had worked in this specific area and in the capacity of a Parliament Member, I am positive that the legislative authorities can contribute to the sustainability of such a system. The latest floods proved that the state resource is not sufficient to cover all damages (I am not even mentioning here events like catastrophic earthquakes). That is why it is a high time to think about a legislative initiative aimed at the damage control field. The best way to do that is to introduce compulsory insurance for the private properties. Recently such measures were taken by our colleagues in Romania. The statistics shows that the voluntary insurance of private properties amounts only at 5%. Therefore, the damages and the recovery of private property – homes, agricultural produce, industrial premises, etc. – turned into such a serious issue in our country.
And since the motives for the vote refer to funds, let us clarify their allocation: 120 million leva are managed by Public Investment Projects, Inc. under the Ministry of Finance. The funds from the European Union to the amount of 12 million Euro, which the government of NMSS and MRF justified and obtained, were provided to the Ministry of Regional and Urban Development.
As for the funds, provided for recovery from damages caused by floods by the Committee on Natural Disasters and Accidents with the Council of Ministers, a total of 79,824,330.00 leva were allocated for 2005. This amount was distributed between 2,962 claims. 88% of these funds went for recovery of infrastructure, restoring the flow of rivers, sewerage and water supply, construction and restoration of dikes, repairs of schools, healthcare and social facilities, administrative buildings. Three percent were spent for purchase of caravans, in which families in need were stationed. Out of the total of 4,667 sites funded in 2005, only at 29 the reconstruction was not carried out.
It is too much to state that there is no control over the expenditure of funds. By law, the control function lies with the National Audit office and the State Financial Control Agency. The State Committee on Civil Protection against Natural Disasters and Accidents has no right to impose fines in case of violations. It is very easy to claim in the public space, especially in case of a natural disaster, that the money was not used as per the original purpose. The same applies to the accusations that nothing was achieved and the money disappeared. There might be violations, but these are isolated cases that should be addressed by the prosecution and investigation authorities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Movement for Rights and Freedoms has repeatedly stated that it will not cover anybody with a political umbrella. There is something more important at present – I know that people from the affected regions are watching us. We shall never forget that the recovery from the heavy floods of last year has been going slowly for all of them. Those fellow-citizens of ours await political and governmental decisions that will make their lives normal, safe and predictable again. They have long been tired of listening to hollow speeches and petty accusations that often insult the institution, at which we are at this moment. I am positive that the Bulgarian citizens want guarantees that they have not been abandoned. I can assure you that the Parliament Group of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms will support any legislative initiative that would lead to optimizing the crisis management activity.
Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen,
The disaster taught us one more thing – the people of Bulgaria showed us that in a difficult situation they have the will and courage to help each other. I think they gave us an example to learn from.
Thank you for your attention.
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