Brussels, 07/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - By way of a contribution to the European Spring Summit, the Environment Council has adopted a text that reviews the implementation of the Union's sustainable development strategy and indicates the way to follow, both internally and externally, in order to make progress with regards Community objectives and to implement the commitments made at the World Summit in Johannesburg.
Concerning the internal sustainable development strategy, the Council recommends emphasis be placed on the following priorities: making sustainable development a central aim of an enlarged Union, setting goals for uncoupling economic growth and environmental damage in specific sectors, and strengthening the integration process of environmental concerns in sector-specific policies (the famous "Cardiff" process) such as development cooperation, transport, energy, forests and fisheries.
The Council recommends a number of priority actions for the next twelve months, including: - finalising by the end of 2003 the action plan on environmental technologies; - strengthening without delay the safety of maritime transport; - agreeing on the Directive on environmental liability on preventing and remedying environmental damage; - urgently developing and implementing the new Union's chemical legislation; - further reducing emissions from the transport sector; - and encouraging the establishment of a European centre or network of centres to prevent floods.
As far as the external dimension of the strategy is concerned, the Council reiterates Member States' full commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, all the targets and goals agreed in Johannesburg, as well as at the World Trade Organisation in Doha and Monterrey Financing for Development conferences (the EU has pledged to increase the Community average from 0.33% at present to 0.39% of GDP in 2006 as an intermediary stage towards 0.7%).