On Friday 23 July, the EU27 Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) approved the provisional political agreement reached on 12 July with the European Parliament on amending EU Regulation 1367/2006, to bring it fully into line with the international Aarhus Convention, which it transposes.
Following a complaint from an NGO in 2008, the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee concluded in Case C-32 of 2017 that the EU was not in compliance with Article 9, paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Convention on public access to justice.
The agreed text will allow for better public scrutiny of EU administrative acts in the field of the environment - by NGOs and individuals alike - and for better public access to justice (see EUROPE 12761/5).
“The EU and its Member States are firmly committed to the principles of the Aarhus Convention. The agreement reached addresses the concerns expressed by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee regarding the case in question, and provides us with a solid basis for presenting our unified position at the meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention, which will be held in October 2021,” according to Slovenia’s Deputy Ambassador to the EU, Tamara Weingerl Požar.
The European Parliament must now vote to allow the formal adoption of the text at first reading in the autumn.
Interim agreement in English: https://bit.ly/3y2lEbE (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)