By a large majority (553 votes in favour, 62 against), the European Parliament adopted its position, on Thursday 20 May, on the revision of EU regulation 1367/2006 to improve citizens’ access to justice in environmental matters.
It endorsed the report by Christian Doleschal (EPP, Germany), which goes further than the Commission’s proposal to bring this Regulation into line with the international Aarhus Convention, which it transposes (see EUROPE 12705/8). The ten or so amendments from the ECR, Greens/EFA and ID groups were rejected.
The agreed text provides that not only NGOs, but also members of the public meeting the criteria set out in the Regulation, have the right to lodge a request for internal review with an EU institution or body that has adopted, or should have adopted, an administrative act, on the grounds that this act or omission contravenes environmental law.
When assessing whether an administrative act contains provisions that may conflict with environmental law, the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU will be taken into account.
The criteria that members of the public other than NGOs will have to meet in order to be able to exercise this right will be established by the Commission by delegated act no later than three years after the adoption of the revised Regulation. The same will apply to the establishment of criteria for the contestability of the Commission’s State Aid decisions.
Christian Doleschal welcomed the vote. According to him, “legal certainty continues to exist. Respect for the EU Treaties and the intra-European division of competences is maintained: national administrative acts are completely excluded from the review mechanism of the Aarhus Regulation”.
Stressing that “public engagement is crucial to deliver the green transition”, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius called for “a political agreement before the summer”. The interinstitutional negotiations will soon be able to start (see EUROPE 12720/6).
See the text: https://bit.ly/33Zc6Rq (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)