Brussels, 13/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The last Environment Council under Belgian Presidency closed its work on a success. The outgoing President, Magda Alvoet mainly told the press she welcomed the guidelines reached for the functioning of the future Community CO2 emissions trading market in its pilot phase (see EUROPE of 13 December, p.7) and the political agreements reached on one hand on public participation in environmental plans and programmes and, on the other, on the timetable for introduction of sulphur-free petrol (see above article). Commenting on the conclusions of the ministers relating to the Union's strategy in favour of sustainable development supposed to give a decisive impetus to the adoption of a global package of measures at the world summit in Johannesburg (September 2002), Magda Alvoet insisted on the four areas of priority intervention (climate change and promotion of the use of clean energies, protection of public health, lasting management of natural resources, and promotion of sustainable mobility) as well as on the need to integrate the environment in all sectoral policies, within the time set, to fix "fair prices" integrating environmental and social costs of products and services, and encourage the tax incentives and other economic instruments. "The Council pledged to examine how suitable it was to strengthen its structures at a time when the integration strategies will be implemented in different sectors", said Ms Alvoet, announcing the request made to Coreper to create within its body a working group on the environmental aspects of sustainable development that will be responsible for reporting to the Environment Council which will each year devote a special session to the follow-up of the strategy in its sphere of competence. The President welcomed the fact that a first list of key indicators for sustainable development would be submitted to the Laeken Summit, thus allowing progress achieved to be measured in the implementation of Union strategy. The Council report also includes the conclusions on international environmental governance stressing that this question must be dealt with in the context of sustainable development and calling on all third countries to increase their financial contribution to the United Nations Environment Programme, to which the European Union is already the main contributor.