Brussels, 17/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Parliament and the Council agreed at the end of last week's conciliation committee hearing to bring their ideas closer on the directive aimed at increasing public participation in the decision-making process in the field of the environment. This directive will allow the Union to transpose the second pillar of the Convention of Aarhuson on public access to information on environmental issues into Community law. The law entered into force on 31 October 2001.
The text of the agreement guarantees that the public will participate in the authorisation of plans and programmes involving waste management, air pollution and protection of water against nitrate pollution, as well as projects that have a significant impact on the environment, such as new airport terminals and certain military projects. The public will have its word to say as well in the granting of permits for new installations and for substantial changes to installations and in updating permits where pollution caused is so great that the limit values need to be changed. These new prerogatives granted to the public will require an amendment to the PRIP directive on integrated prevention and control of pollution.
Parliamentary negotiators succeeded in getting projects categorised as "national defence" from being systematically excluded from the directive's field of application on environmental impact assessment. On the other hand, they conceded to the Council on plans and projects elaborated under specific environmental directives (like the directive on hazardous waste), which will not be affected by the new legislation if they are introduced for exclusively civil defence or civil emergency aims.
The common paper also includes a revision clause in which the Commission will be bound to extend the directive in the future to a wider range of projects and programmes.
Expressing her satisfaction with the agreement, the Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallström, declared in a communiqué that, "The Directive will enable European citizens to participate effectively in environmental decisions that concern them. Public awareness about environmental issues and their impact in the decision-making process will help to improve the quality and implementation of decisions"
The directive will be formally adopted once Parliament and the Council have had a chance to confirm the joint conciliation text. Member States will be obliged to transpose the directive two years after its entry into force.