Bas Eickhout (Verts/ALE). – Madam President, more than 200 people died. That should be the focus of this debate.

It feels as if I'm in the Spanish Parliament, where we are blaming each other instead of sincerely looking at the victims of this disaster, and that should be the core of this debate. Some people said it, and after 30 seconds it was a political play and a political game. That is not honouring the victims.

What is the big problem is that, for years, climate change has been denied, has been ignored and climate action has been frustrated: that is the problem. There are always natural disasters, but we also know that the natural disasters that we are seeing in Europe are being aggravated by climate change. The heating of the Mediterranean Sea is causing an increase of the hydrological cycle that is impacting regions all over Europe, and that should be the debate.

Thank you, Commission, for also the action that Europe is taking, because that is European solidarity, and standing with the Spanish victims is also what a European debate should be doing.

Where were those people that are now having a big mouth? Where were they when we were discussing the report of the Environment Action Programme that is saying that Europe is not prepared for environmental disasters because of climate change? VOX was not there then, they were just doing something else. VOX is not here anymore, by the way: they do their one minute of speech and then walk out of the room, that is the politics.

We need to discuss better preparedness and to make sure that also we are not reducing our climate impact, but that we are better prepared for climate adaptation with nature-based solutions. That should be the debate instead of this shameful political arena. Shame on you.