EU Environment Ministers will have a further public debate on the European Green Deal at the EU Environment Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday 5 March.
This exchange of views will be dominated by the climate law, which the European Commission will have presented the day before, to set the EU's climate neutrality target for 2050 in stone, and by the new action plan on the circular economy, expected on 10 March, according to the Commission's provisional timetable (see EUROPE 12417/8).
These are two of the priorities identified by the ministers in December during the hot debate they held right after they presented the European Green Deal (see EUROPE 12394/8).
Guided by a questionnaire from the Croatian Presidency of the EU Council, Ministers will be asked to answer the following questions:
1) In the light of the guidance provided by the European Council, and taking account of the EU's role in the international climate change negotiations, which actions set out in the European Green Deal are essential next steps towards the EU's climate neutrality objective?
2) Which actions need to be put forward in the new Circular Economy Action Plan to allow the development of the circular economy to become beneficial to all economic players across value chains and to support consumers in making sustainable choices?
The Croatian Presidency has made the launch of discussions on the main initiatives of the European Green Deal in all sectoral formations of the EU Council a priority of its mandate (see EUROPE 12397/12). The Competitiveness Council of the EU held an exchange of views on the Green Deal on 27 February (see EUROPE 12435/7). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)