Brussels, 21/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - European environment ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 20 June, restated their support for EU action plan for the circular economy of December 2015 and, in unanimous conclusions, spelled out their expectations of the member states and the Commission in swiftly putting in place the means to achieve it. These conclusions allow the outgoing Dutch Presidency to end its term of office on a high note on a matter that it had made one of its priorities. The incoming Slovakian Presidency also sees the circular economy as a priority. “The member states should be able to made swift progress. Parliament rapporteur Simona Bonafè has also told me that she wants to progress quickly”, said Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella.
Ministers had already expressed their support for the action plan in March 2016 (see EUROPE 11506). In its conclusions, the Council encourages the member states to establish and adopt measures and/or strategies to complement and contribute to the EU action plan and urges the Commission to fully integrate the circular economy in all its relevant policies and strategies. To speed up the transition to a zero-waste economy, where resource efficiency is the watchword, it recognises that the different conditions and degrees of progress in the member states should be taken into account.
The Council calls on the Commission to ensure that proposals are accompanied by a thorough impact assessment and underlines that policy measures need to support sustainable development and the long-term competitiveness of EU industry, in particular that of SMEs. It encourages the member states to actively involve the private sector to promote cooperation, innovation and industrial symbiosis projects within and across sectors and value chains.
Commission lagging behind on eco-design. The Council stresses that the need to ensure that products are designed and produced more sustainably, taking into account their full life cycle and minimising the negative impact on the environment and on human health is a pillar of the circular economy. Regretting that the Commission has failed to meet the timetable it had set out on eco-design, the Council urges that steps be taken to remedy this and urges the Commission to include appropriate measures to improve the durability, reparability, reusability, possibilities to use recycled materials, upgradability and recyclability of products in the EU eco-design regulations, and other legislation as appropriate, before 2020. It also calls on the Commission to evaluate, before the end of 2018, product groups, other than energy related, for which it would be possible to take better account of resource efficiency and impact on the environment and human health, building on experiences from the eco-design directive.
The Council asks the Commission to develop common methods for assessing and verifying product life time. This is to provide a basis for much-needed action to address planned obsolescence. The Council emphasises the importance of raising awareness among all players, especially consumers, of the importance of the circular economy.
It reiterates the need to prevent marine pollution, particularly from fine plastic particles, and calls on the Commission to propose robust measures to reduce discharge of plastic debris in the marine environment.
In Parliament, discussion has just begun on the proposal to revise the waste directives, a core element of the circular economy package (see EUROPE 11573). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)