While the suspenseful vote on the ‘nature restoration’ regulation will continue on Tuesday 27 June in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, another vote - on the report by Javi López (S&D, Spanish) on the revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directives - will also be a test of ambition.
Under consideration will be the revision and recasting in a single text of Directives 2004/107/EC and 2008/50/EC to bring them more into line with the WHO’s 2021 recommendations for cleaner air in Europe by 2030 as a first step towards the EU’s stated ambition of zero pollution by 2050 (see EUROPE 13051/1).
The draft ‘López’ report and most of the 28 compromise amendments, mainly from the S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA and The Left groups, follow the high ambition of the European Parliament, as formulated in April 2021 in an own-initiative resolution for which Javi López was already rapporteur (see EUROPE 12686/10).
They are calling for EU legislation to be brought fully into line with WHO standards and for all harmful pollutants to be included, as well as for monitoring requirements to be stepped up, with sufficient sampling of air pollution hotspots at all monitoring stations close to residential areas or areas where people are likely to be affected.
The report calls for target values to be set for harmful pollutants not covered by the first review of European standards, in 2028 at the latest, and for the Commission to publish an assessment of the possibility of converting the target value for ozone into a limit value, accompanied, if necessary, by a legislative proposal.
The EPP Group, the Liberals and these left-wing groups are all in favour of measures to ensure that information on ambient air quality is harmonised across the EU and made available to the public. They also call for account to be taken not only of ambient air quality monitoring measures, long-term trends and the impact of national and EU measures, but also of measures drawn up in cooperation with third countries.
The EPP, ECR and ID groups reject total alignment with WHO standards.
In the Council, many Member States are still having difficulties with the European Commission’s proposal, and the Spanish Presidency will inherit the file that the Swedish Presidency has already thoroughly cleared (see EUROPE 13206/17).
See the draft ‘López’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/7r5
See the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/7qw (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)