The continued implementation of the ‘European Green Deal’, which has brought together the European Environment Ministers, joined on Friday by their energy colleagues, seemed promising at the end of the first two days of the informal ministerial meeting in Amiens on Friday 21 January (see EUROPE 12872/8).
The discussions on combatting imported deforestation in the EU and on the reduction of pesticides in the framework of the agro-environmental transition - two major issues for preserving biodiversity and taking up the climate challenge - allowed a “political dynamic” which the French Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, was delighted about,
Imported deforestation. The November 2021 proposal for a regulation to minimise the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market was being debated for the first time (see EUROPE 12834/1). The President-in-Office of the Environment Council welcomed the broad consensus to “move forward quickly” on a major text in terms of the EU’s responsibility.
“We cannot have rules at the European level and continue, through our operating methods, to fuel deforestation in the Amazon or in the great primary forests of Asia”, she said.
According to her, ministers are ready to extend the scope of the regulation to rubber, for example, and to vital ecosystems other than forests, an issue dear to the European Parliament.
She said she was “reasonably optimistic” that a common position could be reached before the end of the French Presidency of the Council.
Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius welcomed the broad support for the proposal, “with certain nuances” depending on the delegation.
Pesticides and agro-environmental transition. The discussion focused on best practice to achieve the objective of halving the use of chemical pesticides and the risks associated with the most dangerous ones by 2030. According to Ms Pompili, the ministers recognised the need to “adapt our standards to the latest data, while supporting our farmers” to avoid both a threat to health and unfair competition.
They also expressed the wish to ban the export to third countries, especially developing countries, of pesticides that are banned in the EU.
This year's planned revision of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUP Directive) will be discussed in the EU Agriculture Council, but the Environment Ministers will be involved.
Chemicals. The Ministers supported a strengthened EU framework for endocrine disruptors, nanomaterials and PFAS, in line with the EU Strategy for Sustainable Chemicals. The Environment Commissioner noted that the revision of the REACH regulation is in preparation, with a public consultation just launched (see EUROPE 12873/7). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)