On Wednesday 1 October, the European Commissioner for Environment, Jessika Roswall, met with the #Handsoffnature campaign coalition, which is behind some 180,000 contributions from European citizens to the call for contributions on reducing administrative burdens in environmental legislation (see EUROPE 13708/12), with a view to the omnibus legislation on simplifying environmental legislation, the proposal for which is expected this autumn.
“Nearly 200,000 people wrote in to oppose environmental rollback and demand even stronger protection”, say the NGOs in the coalition (WWF EU, Birdlife, ClientEarth and the EEB). These citizens appealed to the European Commission “not to be ignored, but to be heard”, stressed the NGOs.
On the Place du Luxembourg in Brussels, the NGOs called on the European Commissioner to “change her approach” and show “political courage” in order to “really work on the implementation” of environmental legislation.
“What’s not working is not the laws that protect human rights, nature or water, it’s the way in which we carry out controls - administrative, on paper, rather than in real life”, Ariel Brunner, from BirdLife Europe, told Jessika Roswall.
“I hear you, I am listening to you and I will continue to listen to you”, stated the European Commissioner for Environment, without deviating from her usual line of presenting the ecological transition and competitiveness “as two sides of the same coin”.
Ms Roswall said that “having high standards is a competitive advantage for our companies”, while supporting “simplification measures”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)