Inter-institutional negotiations started on Friday 4 June on the proposal to amend the EU ‘Aarhus’ regulation on public access to justice in environmental matters (Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006), in order to bring it into line with the international Aarhus Convention, which it transposes, while respecting the EU legal order (see EUROPE 12732/15).
The purpose of the amendment is to respond to the findings and opinion of the Compliance Committee, which found that the EU did not properly provide access to citizens wishing to challenge an administrative act of the EU institutions or bodies (Case ACCC/C2008/32).
As is the rule, the inaugural trilogue allowed the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council and the negotiators from the European Parliament and the Commission to set out their respective positions, without any discussion at this stage.
“There will be a lot of preparation at the technical level on this text”, an EU source told EUROPE on Friday after the trilogue.
The aim will be to identify what is legally feasible and to refine the details of each position, to find the right terminology to facilitate political discussions.
Meetings are planned in the EU Council’s Environment Working Group on dates yet to be decided. Everyone wants the next trilogue to take place under the Portuguese Presidency, “possibly on 22 or 24 June, but the date has not yet been confirmed”, said a diplomatic source.
All of them would like to be able to end in mid-July in order to be sure that the EU will be able to transmit its position to the Aarhus Convention in time, i.e. by the end of July at the latest. The amendment to the EU Regulation will be reflected in the draft Aarhus Convention decision on compliance to be adopted at the next Conference of the Parties in October. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)