Brussels, 07/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Respecting the EU's environmental legislation is not a luxury but a duty of the member states and, in times of crisis, ignoring it is a luxury given that, as things stand, failure to observe European environmental law will cost the EU some €50 billion a year in health care and direct costs for the environment over the next 30 years. This observation was at the heart of a communication on improving the implementation of European legislation, which was adopted by the European Commission on Wednesday 7 March in the hope of helping the member states to become more effective. By “proper implementation”, proper prevention and an effective reaction in the event of environmental problems should be understood.
The objective of this communication is to step up dialogue with the government and all stakeholders on ways of working together as effectively as possible to change the situation, by improving data collection and the pooling of knowledge on the environment and by working towards greater ownership by all of the environmental objectives. The Commission is firmly of the opinion that everybody would win out, in terms of quality of living and public health (between 20 and 50% of the European population live in areas where air pollution currently exceeds the authorised limits), but also in terms of jobs, innovation, economic gains and long-term prosperity. This communication, entitled “Improving the implementation of EU environmental law”, will be debated by the European institutions, the member states and citizens and by all actors responsible for the implementation and monitoring the application of the legislation (national, regional and local authorities). The results of the discussions will provide the Commission with a useful contribution to feed into a proposed seventh Environmental Action Programme (2013-2023), to be presented later this year once the prior impact assessment has been completed.
“EU law is not an invention from Brussels; it is democratically adopted by all member states and the Parliament for the benefit of citizens. Our environment is protected by some 200 pieces of well-established law, but all too often they are not properly applied. This doesn't just harm the environment - it also damages human health, leads to uncertainty for industry and undermines the single market. In a time of crisis, these are costs we cannot afford”, said Janez Potocnik, European Environment Commissioner.
The communication lays emphasis on the positive effects of the legislative arsenal in the field of the environment, demonstrating that it is cheaper to prevent environmental damage than to repair it in the longer term. It also shows that observing environmental legislation may be profitable for businesses. The full implementation of the legislation on waste, for example, would create 400,000 new jobs and cost €72 billion net less than the status quo (deficient implementation). The text also presents measures which could help the member states to adopt a genuinely systematic approach to the gathering and distribution of knowledge, and the resources to promote greater reactivity to environmental problems. The measures envisaged include online accessibility of a larger proportion of environmental information, reinforced inspection and supervision measures, a more coherent structure for the grievances and concerns of the citizens, access to national justice which is more predictable for citizens, authorities and businesses, and structured implementation plans to help member states comply with European law.
The deficits in the implementation of environmental legislation are often made worse by the absence of precise information on environmental problems. Monitoring efforts may vary from one member state to the next, the information provided is often fragmented or obsolete and there is not enough useful information available online. Better-quality and more accessible information at national, regional and local levels would help to detect major environmental issues earlier, thus helping to limit long-term costs.
The Commission also suggests improving inspections and monitoring, laying down criteria on how member states should deal with complaints from citizens, facilitating access to justice and supporting the specialist European environmental networks. In the event of any problems, the authorities responsible for implementation should more clearly commit to take concrete measures within clear timeframes and to adopt reference values which the public can assess.
This communication complements the communication on the application of Community environment law adopted in 2008 to reinforce the Commission's strategy in the use of infringement procedures against member states infringing European law. (AN/transl.fl)