Brussels, 17/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The new strategy of the EU to halt the loss of biodiversity and the roadmap to achieve a low-carbon economy by 2050 will be the two main dossiers to be dealt with by the ministers for the environment of the EU27 in Luxembourg on Tuesday 21 June, at the second and last Environment Council under the outgoing Hungarian Presidency. Conclusions are expected on issues on the European and international agenda. Further conclusions are expected on the integrated and sustainable management of water, a subject close to the heart of the Hungarian Presidency. Sándor Fazekas, the Hungarian minister for rural development, and Tamás Fellegi, the Hungarian minister for national development, who is responsible for the climate change dossier, will take turns to chair this session, which will be dominated by exchanges of views and interim reports on dossiers to be bequeathed to the forthcoming Polish Presidency. Janez Potoènik, Commissioner for the Environment, and Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action, will represent the European Commission.
Climate change. This subject will be dealt with over lunch. In the wake of the Bonn climate negotiation session, which was due to close on Friday 17 June, the ministers will have the opportunity to take stock of progress made ahead of Durban (COP 17, December). The Council will hold an exchange of views and is expected to adopt conclusions on the roadmap towards a low-carbon economy by 2050, which was presented by the Commission on 8 March of this year (EUROPE 10331). The EU27 welcome this roadmap, but differences of opinion subsist over the role of the reference points provided by the Commission for the reduction of emissions within a viable scenario (25% by 2020, 40% by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 80% by 2050). Beyond 2020, admittedly, these stages are indicative - the Commission makes no secret of this - but some member states want to make sure that the figures cited are not given the strength of targets, and are therefore recommending prudent wording. Amongst other things, the conclusions are expected to call on the Commission to propose options to respect the 2030 reference point, stress the importance of energy efficiency measures and the need for all sectors of the economy to contribute to the effort.
Sustainable and integrated water management. The Council will hold an exchange of views and will adopt conclusions on this cross-cutting priority, which was a governing principle of the Hungarian Presidency. Each minister will be invited to express the expectations of his or her country for the plan to safeguard Europe's water resources, which the Commission hopes to launch next year.
Strategy for biodiversity between now and 2020. The Council will adopt conclusions on the strategy -with its six objectives - which was put forward by the Commission in May, to allow the EU to halt the loss of biodiversity and the worsening of ecosystem services in the EU. At this point, the Council is expected to call on the Commission to include biodiversity measures in its proposals for the forthcoming financial perspectives 2014-2020. Some member states (Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy) have reservations on this because they would rather wait until reforms of the common fisheries policy, CAP and EU budget have been finalised before getting behind this strategy. The Council's detailed examination of the strategy will be carried out under the Polish Presidency.
Revision of Seveso II. The Council will hear a progress report on work on the revision of the directive on dealing with dangers caused by major accidents involving dangerous substances. The proposed revision aims principally to bring the text into line with the REACH regulation. As the Commission's proposal only reached the Council in late December last year, and the Parliament opted to step up discussions before taking position in the second half of the year, the Council can do no more than summarise the situation.
GMO. The Council will hear a Presidency report on the state of progress with work on the proposed regulation of July 2010 to modify the legislation (Directive 2001/18/EC) to give the member states the option to limit or ban, on their own territory, the cultivation of GMOs authorised at European level (EUROPE 10336). (A.N./transl.fl)