Brussels, 02/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) has written to the European Union Environment Ministers and the European Commissioer, Margot Wallström to protest against their attitudes during negotiations on a Protocol on assesseing environmental strategies, confirmed a press statement.
The EEB points out that the Protocol aims to strengthen the Aarus Convention on information access, public participation to the decision-making process and access to justice in environmental issues. It considers the European Commission attitude "conservative" and the majority of Member States of "threatening to eliminate the Protocol provisions on public participation that provide meaning to European and Central Asian citizens. According to the EEB, the Commission and several Member States are attempting to prevent the inclusion in the Protocl of the provisions that go further than the recent directive on environmental assessment. This would be incompatible with the directive, that outlines a number of minimum demands, and not a "ceiling", asserts the EEB, which also criticised the Union for discussing these issues behind closed doors, "in order to prevent Member States adopting individual posititions".
Secretary General of the EEB, John Hontelez, commented that, "We see no reason why the Commission or any Member State would use an EU united front to prevent individual Member States from making or supporting proposals that would lift the Protocol beyond the Directive, adding "There is no common enemy in this process, contrary to negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol".
According to the EEB, the Protocol should go beyond the EU directive especially concerning the authorisation of public participation at an early stage, an approach that would be more conform to the provisions of the Aarhus Convention and to the expectations of the public on environmental protection. (EEB: http://www.eeb.org e-mail: info@eeb.org)