Brussels, 25/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - More than a framework for the EU's environment policy until 2020, the 7th environment action programme (EAP) presented by the European Commission must be a true manifesto for the environment and a “new deal” for green growth and employment, the members of the European Parliament committee on the environment have said. On Wednesday 24 April, at their meeting in Brussels, they adopted the report and the key ideas set out by Gaston Franco (EPP, France).
MEPs have signed up to the aims of the programme to protect nature, stimulate effective and sustainable growth and the effective use of resources, and protect citizens against threats for their health such as air pollution. They also, however, call for Europe's ecological resilience to be strengthened, and for it to be transformed into a sustainable green economy. They hope that 2018 will be the deadline for establishing an EU strategy for leading to a “non-toxic environment”, and insist on the importance of establishing a favourable framework for SMEs that will allow the latter to make the transition towards a green economy. They also insist on the need to eliminate subsidies that have an adverse impact on the environment and to ensure transparency of financing in favour of the environment.
MEPs trust, in particular, that the EU will work to do better than the climate objective to which it has signed up (a reduction of 20% in its emissions in 2020 compared to 1990) in order to move towards a long term target of 80-95% reduction by 2050. They urge the EU to adopt binding objectives for 2030 with regard to emissions reductions, renewable energies and energy efficiency, and call for in-depth restructuring of CAP through greening. They also call for strengthened legislation on water and waste. (AN/transl.jl)