EU Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius is urging MEPs to do their utmost to ensure that all current and future ‘Green Deal’ files can be completed before the end of the parliamentary term. The call was made on Thursday 23 March, during a structured dialogue in the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Given the scale of the legislative marathon and the resistance of the right-wing parties, this is not a foregone conclusion. MEPs of the ID and ECR groups were absent.
“The Green Deal is not just about the climate or the environment, it is also about ensuring the well-being of citizens and the proper functioning of the economy for today and for the future. Each file is linked to our common efforts to build a sustainable system, now, for the long term. The clock is ticking”, warned the Commissioner
This applies, among other things, to the proposal for a directive on the substantiation and communication of misleading green claims, adopted the day before by the Commission to combat greenwashing (see EUROPE 13147/6). Mr Sinkevičius presented it as essential to give consumers reliable and comparable information that can support sustainable choices, to give legal certainty to businesses and “a boost to producers who are doing everything to improve the environmental sustainability of their products and operations along the supply chain”.
The proposed framework - for which the Parliament had asked, the Commissioner recalled - was well received. Peter Liese (EPP, German) just regretted an “overly rigid” accredited third-party verification procedure, while Nils Torvalds (Renew Europe, Finnish) warned the Commission against the temptation to “reinvent the wheel”, while the Nordic countries' national label verification systems work well.
César Luena (S&D, Spanish) welcomed “a very important proposal to stop the proliferation of misleading labelling” and avoid market fragmentation through greater harmonisation. However, he considered that claims of climate neutrality are misleading and could be banned.
For the proposed regulation on nature restoration, the EPP reiterated its reluctance, again invoking its fears for food safety, impervious to the Commissioner’s arguments. According to the latter, restoring 30% of land and marine areas by 2030 “is not about strict protection”, the proposal offers a degree of flexibility and subsidiarity for Member States and will, on the contrary, contribute to food production through resilient ecosystems.
The ‘ecodesign’ regulation for sustainable products also needs to be agreed quickly, the commissioner stressed, saying it has “real potential”, as it “can meet our environmental, climate objectives, and goes together”, with the proposal on the justification of green claims. These two files work hand in hand and both aim for more reliable information, especially on the supply chain, he pointed out.
He also hoped for progress on water, air quality, packaging and packaging waste, classification and use of chemicals, and looked to the incoming Spanish Presidency to accelerate the pace.
Continuing the marathon. And to confirm to MEPs, for the coming months: - a proposal on microplastics; - the proposal for a legal framework on soil health in June, “a flexible proposal, which provides clarity and ensures a good monitoring system and management work to tackle contaminants”; - the proposal on forest monitoring and long-term planning; - amendments to the REACH regulation, on which the Commission is working. The Commissioner assured that he was committed to finalising this work so that the Parliament could take a decision. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)