Brussels, 28/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - The creation of an ad hoc Council working group on chemicals and the political agreement by Environment Ministers on the proposal to limit atmospheric pollution by certain ozone precursors present in paint and varnishes are the most salient results of the Environment Council, which took place in Luxembourg on Monday (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8 and 9).
All discussions during the session were recorded in the conclusions, with the exception of the political discussion on the prospects for the Kyoto Protocol in the absence of ratification by Russia. Having been unable to accept a compromise by the Italian Presidency, the Ministers failed to agree on conclusions establishing the position the Union will defend at the forthcoming international conference on climate change (COP 9, Milan, from 3-12 December 2003). The Presidency has therefore decided to defer the adoption of these conclusions to a later date, although there will not be another Environment Council before COP 9. Margot Wallström's unambiguous message, which she delivered before the press, to send a clear signal to Russia not to expect to participate in the joint implementation of the Kyoto Protocol's reduction objective if it fails to ratify this international instrument, is therefore the only tangible result on this dossier.
The four environment dossiers, which were recently the subject of an EP/Council agreement at first or second reading under the Italian Presidency- the modification of the Directive on electrical and electronic waste, the decision on the renewed system on surveillance of greenhouse gases in the EU, the Directive on the reduction of pollution by off-road vehicles and the "Forest Focus" regulation on forest monitoring- will be adopted without debate at a forthcoming session before the end of the this Presidency, said Council President Altero Matteoli.
Here is a summary of the results of the session:
Integrated product policy (IPP): the Council adopted conclusions in which it welcomed the Commission's communication which is the basis of this policy on the evaluation of the whole life-cycle of products aiming to limit their impact on the environment, and makes the IPP into an instrument of sustainable strategic development for the Union. The Council is calling for: - this approach to be applied to services also, including key sectors such as tourism; - the reinforcement of the "green public procurement policy for the promotion and distribution of cleaner products and technologies; - better quality environmental information to the consumer; - the presentation of a coherent strategy in terms of existing and future information instruments to promote environmental improvement along the supply chain; - the promotion of the role of research to improve the scientific foundation of the harmful effects of various substances and the environmental impact of various products, and to encourage interdisciplinary research to identify the challenges and opportunities for sustainable production and consumption. The Council also calls for the establishment of a more detailed working plan, together with a calendar to implement the actions announced by the Commission- especially action plans for requirements on integrating an environmental aspect into public procurement and a Community framework for an environmental declaration on the products. It calls upon Member States to draw up and implement their own IPP strategies. It also recommends the creation of a permanent working group to help the Commission to ensure the IPP strategy is followed up, and that Member States are involved in selecting pilot projects.
Structural indicators for sustainable development: the Council adopted conclusions calling for biodiversity and public health to be added to the shortlist of structural indicators (14 in all), which currently includes three environmental indicators (transport volume, radiant intensity of the economy, emissions of greenhouse gases). The Council hopes that they will be added, as soon as possible, and no later than 2004 when the Union's sustainable development strategy is to be reviewed. Margot Wallström responded favourably to this request.
Climate change: the discussion on the Council's conclusions ahead of COP 9 was cut short as Ministers were invited to adopt them before discussing the proposed Directive (known as "linkage directive") integrating the two other flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, "the clean development mechanism" between industrialised and developing countries, and "joint implementation" between industrialised countries and transitional economy countries, into the future system of tradeable emissions of greenhouse gases.
However, the draft conclusions presented by the Italian Presidency contained three points which divided the delegations: 1) a reference to the "linkage directive" which encouraged the Member States rapidly to implement the clean development mechanism; 2) the application of the clean development mechanism and the joint implementation in 2005 (only Spain, Luxembourg, and Denmark support this anticipated application of the Kyoto Protocol which covers the period 2008-2012); 3) the contribution by Member States to the 415 million dollars promised every year for the adaptation fund for developing countries to climate change (the polluter pays principle, mentioned in the draft conclusions, was unacceptable to Spain, Portugal and Greece, which want the "fairest" key for this sum to be split).
Under these circumstances, the Presidency decided to defer the discussion on the Directive and the adoption of the conclusions.
Chemical products: the Ministers were informed of the results of the Internet consultation on the draft Reach legislation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) and spoke of their determination to be involved in the examination of the proposal the Commission is to present on Wednesday. They felt the creation of an ad hoc working group within the Council should help them as it would allow them to sit on an equal footing with their colleagues in charge of industry.
Health and the environment: the conclusions welcome the Commission's communication on drawing up an action plan (2004-2010) to reduced the number of illnesses related to environmental factors, paying particular attention to children's health. The Council calls upon the Commission: - to guarantee the compatibility and interaction between this plan and the thematic strategies of the sixth action programme for the environment, the programme for public health and the sixth framework programme for research; - to promote the scientific bases for the socio-economic evaluation of the impact on health of policies and measures; - to look at including research efforts on the least-explored threats to health and the environment in an initial phase of the strategy (environmental factors within buildings, socio-environmental determinants of health related to the environment, impact of climate change, noise, etc); - to work in close co-operation with the Member States and the WHO on the preparation and follow-up to the pan-European Ministerial conference on the Environment and Health (Budapest, June 2004). The conclusions call upon Member States to guarantee the active participation of civil society in the elaboration and implementation of the strategy.