Member States agreed on 24 September on the position to be taken by the European Union at the seventh meeting of the parties (MOP) to the international Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, to be held in Geneva from 18 to 20 October.
A draft EU Council decision, submitted by the Slovenian Presidency to the delegations of the EU Council’s Environment Working Group, received their informal agreement on 24 September, after a ‘silence procedure’ without any objections.
At the heart of this document is the compliance of EU Regulation EC 1367/2006 on public access to justice with the Aarhus Convention, which was the subject of a political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (case ACCC/C/2008/32 of the Convention’s Compliance Committee) (see EUROPE 12781/20, 12768/3).
This is the centrepiece of the Member States’ compromise on the position to be defended by the EU in view of Decision VII.8f, which is to be adopted at the Geneva MOP. This international decision also concerns compliance in cases ACCC/C/2015/128 on State aid, ACCC/C/2013/96 on the list of projects of common interest adopted by the European Commission, and ACCC/C/2014/121 on the update of operating permits under the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive.
According to the document seen by EUROPE, Member States agree that Decision VII.8F should recognise the fact that the Union has taken all necessary measures to ensure compliance with the conclusions of the Compliance Committee. They also agree that the EU will emphasise the central role of the national courts of the Union as the ordinary courts of EU law and the system of reference for a preliminary ruling provided for in Article 267 TFEU as a valid remedy.
The EU wants case ACCC/C/2015/128 to be decided separately and rejects its adoption in order to postpone the decision on this matter.
If, despite intensive consultations with the Convention Bureau and other Parties, it is not possible to decide separately and postpone decision-making on this case, and all means have been exhausted in the framework of on-site coordination, the EU will take a position to postpone the adoption of the draft decision VII.8f in its entirety to the next session of the Meeting of the Parties.
After translation, the draft EU Council decision will still have to be submitted to the EU-27 Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) and then to the EU Council for formal adoption.
In Geneva, the European Commission and the Slovenian EU Council Presidency will negotiate on behalf of the EU. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)