Ahead of inter-institutional negotiations on revision of the waste directives in the circular economy package of December 2015, EUROPEN, the European organisation for packaging and the environment, and 126 other EU and national industry associations, representing a wide range of sectors called on Wednesday 18 October for the internal market for packaging and packaged goods to be maintained.
The organisations signing the common call fear that member states want to change the legal base for several provisions of the directive focussing on the environment to the neglect of the internal market legal basis in the revised directive. While making clear they support high environmental protection standards, these industry representatives urge the EU to retain the internal market as the sole legal base, arguing that “EU-wide harmonising measures will be needed for a Circular Economy in Europe”.
The next trialogue negotiating meeting (involving negotiators from the European Parliament and the presidency of the Council of the EU, assisted by the Commission), scheduled for 25 October, is again expected to be devoted entirely to the framework directive on waste (see EUROPE 11872). The member states’ ambassadors want to “make as much progress as possible on this text before starting to discuss the other three directives”, which include the one on packaging and packaging waste, a source told EUROPE on Thursday 19 October, the day after the Coreper meeting to prepare the next and fourth trialogue meeting. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)