The European Parliament is expected to vote on Thursday 25 March in favour of substantially improving the implementation of existing EU legislation on ambient air quality by Member States and to welcome the European Commission’s commitment to review existing standards in the third quarter of 2022.
The own-initiative report by Javi López (S&D, Spain) on the implementation of directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC, which will be put to the vote at the plenary session, enjoys broad consensus (see EUROPE 12671/16).
In particular, it calls for future directives to cover other unregulated pollutants that have been shown to have harmful effects on health and the environment in the EU, such as ultrafine particulates, black carbon, mercury and ammonia—one of the most harmful pollutants to ecosystems. It also requires, with regard to emission monitoring facilities, that air quality be measured at appropriate locations and emission sources.
Only a few amendments were tabled in the Parliament by the EPP and The Left groups.
EPP and WHO standards. While all groups call for a possible future alignment of EU standards with those of the World Health Organization, after a careful assessment of the new WHO standards, the right wing—concerned about feasibility—has made it clear in several places in the resolution that it is a question of “closer” alignment of EU legislation with these standards, not total alignment.
The Left and public transport. The Left’s amendments are mainly aimed at promoting public transport.
This group points out that car use is a major cause of the increase in air pollutant emissions, since, after the lifting of the containment measures, it is the ‘car traffic’ type facilities that have recorded the highest increases in emissions. It believes that this data reinforces the knowledge of the impact of individual transport use on air quality in major urban centres and that the reduction of these pollutants will only be possible by increasing and promoting the use of less polluting public transport.
It also calls for Commission support for free public transport programmes, as practiced in several European cities.
With regard to monitoring stations, another amendment by this group calls for an assessment of industrial pollutants when direct links can be established between industrial processes and characteristic emissions. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)