It’s a Finnish Presidency highly motivated and ambitious in the field of environment and climate change that took over, on Monday 1 July, the leadership of the EU Council for the next six months. But by the time the new European Commission is in place, the Presidency will have few legislative dossiers to deal with.
Consolidating the EU's position as a global leader in climate action is one of the four priorities of the Finnish Presidency and its top priority in the field of the environment (see EUROPE 12285/12, 12283/12). Continuing work to identify the key elements of the EU's long-term strategy before the end of the year will be its most important task.
This will involve making progress on the conditions, incentives and framework to be put in place to ensure a transition to a climate-neutral EU, in accordance with the Paris Agreement and, if possible, by 2050 (see EUROPE 12279/2).
Circular economy and biodiversity protection will be the other two main themes on its agenda.
“Europe's future well-being and prosperity depend on our ability to find solutions to the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity. A circular economy can provide us with tools to solve the sustainability crisis", the Presidency emphasises.
The Informal Meeting of Environment/Climate Ministers on 11-12 July in Helsinki will reflect these priorities. 11 July will be dedicated, on the one hand, to the EU’s internal discussion on its climate ambition and messages, on increasing global ambition in climate change and on the messages to be delivered at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 23 September and, on the other hand, to examine views on international objectives to halt the loss of biodiversity after 2020.
On 12 July, discussions will focus on the solutions that the circular economy can provide to climate change and biodiversity loss and on the steps towards a possible 'European circular economy 2.0'.
At the legislative level, the Presidency is ready to start negotiations with the new European Parliament on the proposal for a European regulation on the reuse of urban wastewater for agricultural irrigation purposes. The EU Council has just adopted its position (see EUROPE 12283/9). The first trilogue will take place in the autumn (probably in October).
It will also be up to the Presidency to prepare EU Council conclusions on: - the EU position for the COP 25; - the circular economy; - the position to be defended by the EU on the post-2020 global framework for biodiversity; - the 8th Environment Action Programme, which is set to take over from the 7th at its expiry in 2020.
A meeting of the Environment Council of the EU is scheduled for 9 October and another for 19 December, after the European Council (12 and 13 December), which is due to finalise its guidelines for the EU's long-term climate strategy and after the COP 25 (Chile, 2-13 December). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)