In two years, the European Commission has made good progress in presenting proposals for giving concrete substance to the plan of action for the circular economy taken on by the EU in December 2015, and the first EU strategy on plastics is the most recent illustration of this, stressed Commissioner Vice-President Frans Timmermans when opening the conference of all stakeholders on the circular economy, in Brussels on 20 February.
Timmermans did, however, place emphasis on the next steps to take to move further forward in this “fourth industrial revolution which is happening at a dizzy rate”. He counts on the support of MEPs in the little time remaining before the European elections in 2019 and on mobilisation of all – businesses, citizens, NGOs, researchers.
“There are other important work streams too, from synergising our chemicals and waste policies, to financing and research, to awareness raising and better tracking and measurement of the progress we are making in the circular economy. We have about a year left in which to complete this work”, said Timmermans.
Speaking before members of the European Parliament committee on the environment, the European commissioner for employment, growth, investment and competitiveness, Jirki Katainen, spoke in a similar vein. Saying that the circular economy is now on track, he spoke of the ten key indicators that will be developed to measure progress: “We want to see if actions have been undertaken, encourage best practice and place emphasis where efforts are needed”.
The commissioner also stressed the importance of the initiative concerning the interface between the legislations relative to chemical substances, products and waste, which will relate to the traceability of worrying substances in products, their traceability in recycled materials and the difficulties encountered in application of EU waste classification methods
“We must clarify this interface. The aim is to launch a debate with all stakeholders. By the end of 2019, we want actions to have begun. We do not rule out legislation”, he said.
Another priority will consist of encouraging a year that is low on carbon. “We want to launch a framework on products so that they may be more respectful of the circular economy and so that consumers can choose”.
MEPs want more. MEPs said that “there is still much to be done” and called for concrete proposals resulting in legislation. Peter Liese (EPP) pointed out that Parliament has been calling for a strategy on antibiotics for years. Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis simply announced an analysis of the situation by the end of the year “of people dying because there are no innovative antibiotics. Things must be speeded up”, the MEP said. Pavel Poc (S&D, Czech Republic) takes the view that an essential condition to be met to manage a successful transition to the circular economy is to “inscribe the EU plan of action in a strategy for a non-toxic environment” that the Commission has wanted to present for a long while.
“An essential link is a policy of integrated and reflected ecological conception of products and a policy of public markets that can give momentum to the circular economy”, put in Mark Demesmaeker of Belgium.
EESC engagement. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) undertook, for its part, to make the circular economy an economic model that comes under “business as usual” for companies and leaves no-one aside. “The transition to a circular economy is a great opportunity for civil society. It is already happening on the ground. (...) However, we need to ensure that the transition is widely accepted. Leaving no one behind is one of the objectives of the circular economy stakeholder platform that is a crucial space to forget this kind of shared vision of the transition to a circular and sustainable European economy”, EESC President Georges Dassis said during the stakeholders’ conference. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)