Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, assisted by the Commission, have made progress on the proposal for a post-2020 LIFE regulation, the only financial instrument specifically dedicated to the environment and climate action.
But 8 hours of negotiations into the early hours of Thursday, 28 February, were not enough to complete the line-by-line search for a compromise on the text.
A third trilogue is therefore planned, on Monday 11 March in Strasbourg in theory.
But the negotiators assure us that there is no substantive difference between them on the objectives and priorities for this programme.
"This is a very important programme for Parliament and the Council. We have strengthened the priorities. We have no substantive difficulties, but we want to make progress in reaching a common understanding and ensuring that it translates priorities into action. We have a very good overview of what a compromise could look like", a diplomatic source said on Thursday.
Both institutions are committed to ensuring that a prominent place is given to projects that protect nature and biodiversity in particular.
According to another source, "there are still some points to be clarified". “Anyway, this is not a final agreement, because we are waiting for decisions on the 2021-2027 budget and we will still need one trilogue at least” once an agreement on the EU budget amounts post-2020 has been reached, she added (see EUROPE 12200). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)