Neither the EU Member States nor the European Commission have moved on their respective positions on the EU’s comprehensive 2030 Environment Action Programme (8th EAP) ahead of the upcoming inter-institutional negotiations (trilogue) on 1 December. But the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council remains hopeful that this third trilogue will be conclusive.
The preparatory discussion of the EU27 Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Wednesday 24 November focused only on the two issues that will be the most difficult to resolve and are related to legal issues of principle on the one hand and to the scope of the 8th EAP (see EUROPE 12813/12) on the other.
The first issue concerns the mid-term review of the programme in 2024 and the EU Council’s request that the European Commission submit a legislative proposal before the end of its mandate, containing the list of actions to be taken until 2030. The Commission continues to oppose, as a matter of principle, curtailing its power of initiative and making any commitments that would bind the next Commission.
The legal services of the institutions could be called upon on 1 December to advise the negotiators.
As regards the scope, the EU Council, which sees the Action Programme as an enabling framework, continues to oppose any reference to specific timetables or binding targets.
This makes it difficult to accede to the European Parliament’s demands to phase out all direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, and all other environmentally damaging subsidies by 2027.
The EU Council’s reluctance also relates to the Parliament’s amendments referring to the EU’s ‘taxonomy’ regulation on sustainable investment and binding targets for the consumption footprint (see EUROPE 12758/6). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)