European environment ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 19 June, gave unanimous backing to the action plan proposed by the European Commission to improve application of the two flagship directives for the protection of nature – the habitats and the birds directives (see EUROPE 11809 and 11777).
This level of support comes as no surprise since environment ministers, deeming the directives perfectly fit for purpose, had fought for them to be retained and for implementation to be improved, rather than have them overhauled as the Commission had initially envisaged in the “health check” on these two pieces of legislation.
In its conclusions on the “EU action plan for nature, people and the economy”, the Council welcomes the plan and encourages the member states to put it into effect.
More funding. The Council acknowledges that funding shortages have hampered full implementation of the nature-protection directives and says that it is important that predictable, adequate, regular and targeted financing is ensured.
Closer integration of relevant policies. The Council calls on the Commission and the member states to ensure more effective integration of Natura 2000 and wider biodiversity with the common agricultural policy, cohesion policy, common fisheries policy, integrated maritime policy and research and innovation policy.
Closer monitoring. Recognising that the timeframe for delivery of the action plan is short, the Council urges the Commission to monitor its delivery across the 15 actions identified therein, in close collaboration with the member states and the EU institutions, in particular the Committee of the Regions, the European Environment Agency. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)