Brussels, 16/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The major environmental NGOs are extremely worried by the lack of emphasis on the environment and sustainable development in the structure and distribution of portfolios in the Juncker Commission. On 12 September, they expressed their wish for the European Parliament to redress the balance.
Almost immediately after having expressed their grievances to Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 11153 and 11152), the 10 largest NGOs in the EU looked at what was needed to prevent what they see as the planned relegation of the environment to outside the main arena of EU political priorities. The NGOs underlined that there had been some downgrading of current EU commitments on sustainable development, resource efficiency, air quality, protection of biodiversity and action on climate change. They also said that getting rid of the seventh environmental action plan was unacceptable and that this action plan constituted a formal and binding inter-institutional made more than a year ago.
The NGOs also believe that this “would represent a betrayal of the interests of EU citizens, the vast majority of whom feel strongly about the environment” as borne out by a very recent Eurobarometer survey on the environment (see EUROPE 11150).
Therefore, according to this collective of NGOs, Parliament must at least demand that: - a post of Commission vice-president responsible for sustainability is created, to coordinate the environment, fisheries, agriculture and regional policy portfolios; - that the post of vice-president for the energy union is upgraded to a post of vice-president for climate action and energy union; - that the environment portfolio is reinstated with the restoration of the competences of the commissioner in charge of this area and the granting to this commissioner of a new mandate to respect the European Parliament's work and implement the seventh environmental action programme.
The NGOs believe that Parliament must also demand that the mandate conferred on the commissioner for the environment “to weaken the nature directives” is replaced with an instruction to strongly implement this legislation (habitats and protection of wild birds directives) and to work to ensure that the targets the EU has set itself in its strategy for promoting biodiversity by 2020 are reached. The commissioner must also help towards making the protection of citizens' health a priority by strengthening and not by weakening key legislation on air quality and chemical products and move biocides and pesticides back within the remit of DG Environment at the European Commission.
NGOs also want Parliament to demand that potential conflicts of interests among commissioners designate are resolved, particularly with regard to the climate and energy portfolios (see previous article). (AN)