Brussels, 05/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - Environmental NGOs are of the opinion that the report on the state of the environment in Europe, published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on Tuesday 3 March, calling for EU policies to be recalibrated to ensure successful transition to a green economy should cause the Juncker Commission to completely reverse its policy on the environment (see EUROPE 11266).
Of particular concern to the NGOs is the dramatic loss of biodiversity (only 23% of animal and plant species and 16% of habitats are considered to be in a good state of conservation). Since the report does not back calls for deregulation but, on the contrary, highlights the urgent need for full implementation of the 7th Environment Action Programme and more, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Birdlife and WWF see it as a welcome wake-up call - if it is heeded.
Jean-Claude Juncker needs to “demonstrate that he has not embarked on an ideological crusade to cut environmental legislation. A failure to seize this opportunity will cost Europe dear”, said EEB Secretary General Jeremy Wates. The EEB calls for “a complete rethink of President Juncker's political priorities, which virtually ignore the environment apart from climate change” and for full implementation of the 7th Environment Action programme to be a priority under a revised EUROPE 2020 strategy.
Ariel Brunner of Birdlife drives the point home. “We hope that today's report marks a new dawn and that the Commission will now up its game in terms of environmental ambition. President Juncker has started on the wrong foot, with the environment left out of its political guidelines and downgraded in its structure, and its first actions have been entirely focused on deregulation”, he stated.
WWF argues that this report should lead the Juncker Commission to turn off “its simplistic and false rhetoric that environmental policy equals administrative burden. The Environmental Agency's report shows the opposite is the case - green policies promote innovation, jobs and growth”, observed WWF European Policy Office Director Tony Long. (Aminata Niang)