Brussels, 24/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The path is now open to adoption of the 7th Environmental Action Programme (EAP), which determines the major guidelines and priorities of EU environmental policy up to 2020. In Strasbourg on Thursday 24 October, the European Parliament officially endorsed, by the overwhelming majority of 472 votes to 81, with 21 abstentions, the agreement negotiated with the Council on the programme entitled “Living within Planetary Boundaries”, which will steer Europe's transition towards an economy that is resource-efficient, low-carbon and environmentally-friendly, ensuring the protection and the strengthening of “nature capital” as well as the health and well-being of citizens (see EUROPE 10871). In so doing, MEPs made official their demand for tougher application of European environmental law by member states, secure investment for support of environmental policy and the fight against climate change, and better account taken of the environmental issues raised in other policies.
“Environmental action certainly entails costs, as does inaction, but it also entails benefits which public funding authorities and private investors cannot afford to ignore in today's climate. Environmental concerns must therefore no longer be the adjustment variable but must be built in, well upstream, to various sector-specific policies. The aim, henceforward, is that undertakings given by the EU and its member states under this policy must be duly fulfilled and EU environmental legislation fully enforced. This is a duty to EU citizens and to our planet”, said the rapporteur, Gaston Franco (EPP, France).
The 7th EAP was proposed in November 2012. It identifies nine priority objectives - the main ones being environmental protection and strengthened ecological resilience, support for sustainable and effective growth, protection against the environmental threats to health. It contains a whole series of commitments for improving the state of the environment and for launching a European ecological New Deal, to promote greener growth and create jobs. It is now for the Council to formally adopt this EAP. This is due to be done mid-November. Publication in the EU Official Journal will be by the end of the year. (AN/transl.jl)