Brussels, 19/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Most unexpectedly, the legislative proposal of November 2013 seeking to reduce consumption in the EU of light, single-use plastic bags as a way of protecting the marine environment will not be withdrawn. Following a discussion within the College of Commissioners, the European Commission said on Wednesday 19 November that this draft piece of environmental legislation would not fall victim to “Better Regulation” concerns. The Commission chose not to oppose the agreement on the text reached two days earlier by the Parliament and the Council (see EUROPE 11199).
Frans Timmermans, Commission Vice-President in charge of “better regulation”, who announced on 14 November that the proposals would be withdrawn, put this change of heart down to pragmatism.
“We had a short discussion because we all agreed on the objective of tackling this pollution of the environment. It's important to take action to reduce the number of plastic bags in the oceans. It's very important to build a circular economy. The Council and the Parliament share these objectives and agreed on how to achieve them”, Timmermans told the press. Stating that he merely drew his colleagues' attention to certain implementation difficulties to be addressed, he added: “The Commission welcomes the agreement between the Parliament and the Council” (our translations).
When asked how the U-turn had come about, given the reservations of a number of Commission departments about binding targets and specific rules on the biodegradability/compostability of plastic bags, a source of annoyance to some countries, Timmermans put responsibility firmly back with the member states. “On this issue I've been clear and pragmatic from the start. I don't think the way it has developed is entirely in line with what we, as the Commission, would see as better regulation because I fear that perhaps, down the line, in implementing this agreement in member states, there might be ways to do it easier as per the proposal we have made. But I am also a pragmatic man. I see that this is what the member states and the European Parliament want. And at the end of the day, what we want to achieve is less plastic bags in the environment. And this proposal, as it has been amended, will indeed lead to less plastic bags in the environment. And we should all be happy about that. And if there are problems later on with the implementation, that's something that the member states will have brought upon themselves” he said. (AN)