Brussels, 24/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - European Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella took a great deal of stick from MEPs on the Parliament's environment committee on Tuesday 24 February when he announced that he expects the European Commission to “proceed with the formalisation of the withdrawal (of the waste package) in the coming days”.
The commissioner repeated that the motivation was to withdraw what is currently on the table and “replace (it) with a new, more ambitious proposal by end 2015 to promote the circular economy”. He also stressed the Commission's desire to “close the circle in the circular economy” by adding a sustainable production strand.
No matter the assurances he gave that the Commission “will, of course, present a new legislative proposal on waste targets”, one that takes into account the input from the public consultations and from the Parliament and the Council, while retaining the aim of increasing recycling levels in Europe, he failed to convince anyone.
MEPs lambasted the Commission's obstinacy in turning a deaf ear to the many calls directed to it from the Environment Council, the General Affairs Council, the political groups in the Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and NGOs to give up on withdrawing the package so as not to waste time (see EUROPE 11254, 11232, 11225, 11220 and 11113).
“Despite that, you just don't give up! Don't try to tell anyone that you're listening! You say that our sights are still on recycling targets. Will they remain in the proposal or not? Will there be new legislation on the production chapter? You say that we're going to close the circle. There is only a roadmap. It's all just hot air!” said a furious Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) (our translation).
“Yes, the targets will be in the proposal”, replied Vella, giving no inkling as to whether they will be the same, though he had stressed that the targets would be “ambitious but smart and effective”. As to whether there would be legislation on the production chapter, this “still has to be discussed”.
The Commissioner argued that the delay built up has been long-standing, since the idea of the life cycle of goods “from the cradle to the grave” dates back to the 60s. (Aminata Niang)