Coreper, the committee of the ambassadors of the 28 member states to the EU was briefed in Brussels on Wednesday 20 September on the technical level progress made on revision of the waste directive in the circular economy package of December 2015 ahead of the upcoming inter-institutional negotiations – which are unlikely to be conclusive – in Brussels on the afternoon of 26 September (see EUROPE 11817).
The negotiating brief has been updated to take account of the technical progress, which relates solely to the proposal for revision of the waste framework directive – a key element of the circular economy package but not the only one. For the moment, none of the three other directives (proposal amending Directive 199/31/EC on the landfill of waste, proposal amending Directives 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and 2012/19/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment) has been discussed.
Discussions will focus on: the definition of municipal waste, the type of waste source and the potential value of guidelines, waste treatment hierarchy, by-products, end of waste, management of hazardous waste, waste prevention, producers’ liability and the minimum criteria to be met. “We’re going to try to push on so as not to lose momentum in this third trialogue. We haven’t even touched on landfill and recycling percentages yet”, a source told EUROPE.
The negotiators will try to make as much progress as possible on the framework directive and to identify the most important political points for each of the institutions, and principally the European Parliament.
Given the scale of this legislative package, it cannot be ruled out that a fourth and a fifth trialogue might still be needed. These will concentrate on the other three directives, though it is not out of the question that certain framework directive issues will also remain to be negotiated. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)