Brussels, 03/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - During its term of six months at the head of the Council, the Italian Presidency just getting underway will make every effort to promote the EU's transition to an inclusive and environmentally sustainable economy as a driver of greener and more sustainable growth.
The fight against climate change, with a view to an agreement on an international regime to be concluded in 2015 and progress to guarantee the transition to a more resource-efficient Europe, will therefore form the two major legislative priorities of the Presidency in the field of the environment. Both subjects have been included on the agenda of the informal ministerial meeting of the Environment Council, to be held in Milan on 16 and 17 July.
Climate. Preparations for international negotiations for an ambitious EU contribution to the global climate agreement, which will be concluded in Paris (COP21 in Paris, late 2015), will mobilise the trio of Presidencies (Italy, Latvia and Luxembourg). However, it will be the Italian Presidency which will be responsible for preparing the EU's active contribution to the preparatory conference in Lima (Peru, COP 20, December 2014). It hopes that the climate conference convened in New York on 23 September by Ban Ki-moon will give a shot in the arm to ambitious offers.
It will also be the enormous job of the Italian Presidency to step up dialogue and work internally to reach an agreement, by no later than October of this year, among the 28 member states of the EU on the integrated climate/energy action framework for the period 2020-2030 inclusive, as called for by the last meeting of the European Council (see EUROPE 11110).
The Italian Presidency takes the view that the structural reform of the emissions quotas trading system (ETS), with a Commission proposal for the creation of a market stability reserve to be in place by 2021, is extremely important to guarantee the solidity of the ETS. It will therefore pledge to make progress towards a final agreement on this legislative proposal, the only one at this stage (the proposed revision of the energy efficiency directive is expected for this month). For the other key elements of the action framework, the Presidency will seek to facilitate a balanced and timely agreement.
It will also continue work on the draft regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification of CO2 emissions from maritime transport, with a view to its adoption, as an element of the Climate/Energy Framework.
A Europe efficient in resource use. The Italian Presidency will launch a debate on the advantages it hopes to gain from policies on the circular economy and resource efficiency. It will begin examining proposals for revising the waste directives that the Commission has just presented in its package of measures for a circular economy (see EUROPE 11113).
It is eagerly awaiting the communication on sustainable food (which is part of this package but whose presentation has been delayed) so that it can examine the social, economic, environmental and health aspects. The Italian Presidency has indicated that it attaches much importance to promoting sustainable food systems that respect the ecosystems and natural cycles.
The pure air in Europe legislative package will be one of the biggest dossiers of this Presidency. It is seeking to make progress on the two proposals for directives presented by the Commission last December to improve air quality (the new draft directive seeks to reduce sulphuric dioxide pollution and micro-particles from medium-size combustion plants and revise the directive on national emission ceilings). The two texts were the subject of an initial policy debate at the Environment Council on 12 June last.
The Italian Presidency hopes to reach agreement on the draft directive of November 2013, which seeks to reduce the use of light single-use plastic bags (see EUROPE 11062). (AN)