Brussels, 15/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - As the Polish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers draws to a close and in the wake of the world climate conference in Durban (COP 17), EU27 environment ministers are to meet again in Brussels on 19 December at a stock-taking and transition meeting essentially for exchanging views and analysing the results of the COP 17. After the sleepless nights spent in Durban seeking to avoid a failure of the talks, the time has now come for a breather. Conclusions on the EU's biodiversity strategy until 2020 and a roadmap for a Europe that makes efficient use of resources are the only formal decisions expected to come out of the session, which will be chaired by Marcin Korolec, Poland's Environment Minister. As far as the other items on the agenda are concerned, the Council will take stock of numerous legislative dossiers that will be passed on to the next presidency of the EU Council, to be held by Denmark. Janez Potocnik, Environment Commissioner, and Connie Hedegaard, Commissioner for Climate Action, will represent the European Commission. The programme of work is as follows:
Biodiversity. The Council will hold an exchange of views and adopt conclusions on the implementation of EU biodiversity strategy to 2020, adopted in June this year to avert biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to maintain and restore ecosystems as required in the EU overall 2020 headline target. The debate on priority action was, however, postponed (see EUROPE 10403). The Council is expected, in particular, to stress how urgent it is to reverse the continuing trend of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.
A resource-efficient Europe. The Council will hold an exchange of views on the roadmap presented on 20 September by the Commission (see EUROPE 10455 and 10452) which will lead the EU into economic transformation, less dependency on imports of increasingly costly strategic resources, and sustainable growth by 2050, setting out medium-term 2020 targets.
Durban climate conference. The Council will hold an exchange of views on the results of COP 17 - the Durban platform - that the EU welcomes as a historic breakthrough in that it extends the Kyoto Protocol while at the same time marking the way to a binding global climate agreement to be concluded in 2015, to take effect in 2020 (see EUROPE 10514).
Sulphur content of marine fuels. The Council will note a report from the presidency on the state of progress in work on the directive aimed at restricting the sulphur content of marine fuels while integrating new standards approved by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) into EU law for marine fuels (see EUROPE 10459). The maximum sulphur content authorised for maritime fuels used in sensitive areas (such as the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the English Channel) will be reduced from the current 1.5% to 0.1% as of 1 January 2015 and, in other zones, from the current 4.5% to 0.5% as of 1 January 2020.
Export and import of hazardous chemicals. The Council will be informed of the state of progress of work on the proposal for a new regulation that goes further than the Rotterdam Convention as it provides better protection for importing countries.
SEVESO III. The Council will take stock of work on updating the rules for preventing major accidents involving dangerous substances in order to increase protection while taking into account the entry into force of the European regulations, CLP (classification, labelling and packaging of substances and blends) and REACH (registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemical products) (see EUROPE 10467). (AN/transl.jl)