Brussels, 17/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Deeply worried that the new EU clean air and waste legislative packages could be axed, the European Environment Bureau (EEB), the largest federation of European environmental NGOs, sent an open letter to the prime ministers of the 28 member states on Monday 17 November urging them to oppose any such plans which it sees as being harmful to public health, the environment and employment in Europe.
The EEB fears follow reports that these two legislative packages which are already under consideration at the European Parliament and the Council, are among those shortlisted by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his first Vice-President Frans Timmermans for withdrawal as part of “better regulation' efforts.
The clean air package, presented in December 2013 (see EUROPE 11175 and11152) and the proposal on the review of EU legislation on waste management, the central plank of the circular economy package presented in July of this year (see EUROPE 11114 and 11113) both seek to make the European economy more resource efficient. After the several years of work already invested in them, withdrawal of the proposals would represent “an extraordinary inefficiency in a body which claims to believe in better regulation” and would “seriously undermine the credibility of the EU as a decision-making body”, states EEB Secretary General Jeremy Wates. He adds: “The Commission might like us to believe that, by withdrawing these proposals, it would be responding to public demand for less intervention from Brussels. In fact successive polls show considerable public support for action on the environment. Both the Air and Waste Packages can deliver considerable economic and environmental benefits, with the former protecting human health and the latter creating large numbers of jobs”.
Although air pollution kills ten times as many people as road traffic accidents, action to improve air quality has not received anywhere near the same degree of attention, despite 79% of citizens across Europe wanting the EU to take action in this area, the EEB points out. It states that the clean air package would reduce the number of premature deaths resulting from exposure to air pollution by 58,000 per year by 2030 (air pollution causes 400,000 premature deaths per year) and the corresponding economic benefits would, according to Commission estimates, amount to €40-140 billion per year by 2030. The “zero waste” proposal would, the EEB argues, help create 180,000 sustainable jobs and would be crucial to Europe's future competitiveness. (AN)