madam president can i first of all welcome the remarks that the commissioner made in committee and also here today
our response led by the commissioner has indeed been commendable both at an eu level and from the member states acting on a bilateral basis
the uk certainly did all that it could
it is very saddening to note that whilst the people of pakistan were facing this catastrophe their president was enjoying the best and finest that europe had to offer
whilst he was doing that we started to mobilise and stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of pakistan
i am very proud that we did that
as the civil infrastructure crumbled it was the military that had to step in
the fact that we have been working to provide the emergency relief required is very commendable
however the emergency is still under way as we meet here today
whilst it is ongoing we are doing what we can but we must start to plan our response for the medium to long term
the unprecedented scale of the floods warrants an unprecedented international response
we must start to rebuild pakistan but we must do this in such a way that the people of pakistan can be seen to be doing it or truly unimaginable consequences might unfold
we have a development agenda but we must also tie into this a trade-related agenda to allow the people of pakistan to rebuild their country themselves as well
colleagues i am asking really for us to be ambitious and to come forward with an eu plan rather like the marshal plan which helped to rebuild parts of europe
that is what is required
that is the scale of the challenge
please rise to it
