The negotiators of the European Parliament and the outgoing Estonian Presidency of the Council, assisted by the Commission, will have their work cut out in Brussels on Sunday 17 December, trying to reach an inter-institutional agreement on the revision of the 'Waste' directives – a key element of the EU's circular economy action plan (see EUROPE 11917). The entire day will be given over to the subject.
The Estonian Presidency will go into the trialogue negotiations armed with an updated negotiating mandate for all four directives. The margin for manoeuvre granted to it by the ambassadors of the member states of the EU on Wednesday 13 December concerns the specific targets and derogations for the entire legislative package. This flexibility is strictly linked to the outcome of the negotiations on the definition of municipal waste (in the framework directive: Ed) and calculation methods. The trialogue will be challenging, a source close to the dossier told EUROPE.
On municipal waste, packaging and landfill, there is so much distance between the figures of the Parliament's ambitious position and the targets deemed realistic by the member states that enormous efforts will be needed to bring them closer together – not counting the fact that there is no agreement in principle on a number of points from each directive. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)