Brussels, 09/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - If the European Union wants to effectively deal with global environmental issues such as climate change, declining fish stocks and polluting emissions, then it must step up its efforts to make environmental concerns central to all policy decisions. This is the result reached by the Commission in an assessment report on the Cardiff process, launched in 1998 by the Heads of State and Government of the EU15 to have the different Council formations adopt and implement environment integration strategies, each in its own sphere of competence. The low-key results in the report are as follows.
To date, measures have been agreed at EU level to integrate environmental concerns into the policies of nine sectors (agriculture, transport, energy, industry, internal market, development, fisheries, economy and finance, general affairs). Environmental issues have already been included on the agenda of the Council meetings and, in some cases, policies formulated that are more environmentally-friendly. Progress has been accomplished, mainly in the fields of agriculture and fisheries, but much remains to be done, especially regarding transport. The transport sector is the one that remains mainly responsible for the increasing rate of greenhouse gas emissions (rise in passenger and goods transport having more than offset improved energy efficiency gained through considerable progress in automobile and fuel technology). And the environment is not the only thing to suffer from this: - traffic jams, noise and particle emissions have repercussions on citizens' health.
Reform of Common Fisheries Policy in 2002 and the plans for reconstituting cod and hake stocks in the North adopted in 2003 are an important step towards the sustainable exploitation of stocks, but only 18% of the 113 fish stocks assessed by the International Council for the Exploitation of the Sea in the North-East Atlantic in 2001 were inside safe biological limits. It is therefore appropriate to adopt other measures (recovery plans for sole, southern hake and Norway lobster, proposed by the Commission, but also full use of the opportunities for stakeholder involvement and improved governance offered by the regional advisory councils).
The Council's European Green Diplomacy Initiative, the establishment of an informal network of environmental experts within foreign ministries, is a step forward for environmental integration into trade and foreign policy. This should be used to enhance dialogue with non-EU countries on a wide range of environmental issues, but other challenges include the further promotion of environmental concerns in WTO negotiations and in regional and bilateral trade agreements, as well as work with Member States to implement the OECD recommendations related to integrating environmental considerations in export credit decisions.
The report also recommends activating revision of the integration strategies foreseen for end 2003 and 2004, extending the Cardiff Process to other sectors, in particular tourism, research, cohesion policy and education; and entrusting the European Council with a guiding role to strengthen political commitment toward this process.
In a press release, Margot Wallström, Environment Commissioner, states: "This report shows the need to push ahead with environmental integration to achieve sustainable development. Failure to integrate environmental thinking now may commit us to unsustainable trends for years to come, at great cost to ourselves and future generations. Look at last year's hot summer, which contributed to the premature deaths of 20,000 people and caused agricultural losses of EUR 10 billion in the EU. The heat wave was in line with what experts expect will happen more often unless we succeed in curbing climate change. This is one illustration of why the different Council formations must demonstrate their continued commitment to environmental integration. At the same time, Member States must fully implement these decisions".
(The report is available on http: //europa.eu.int/comm.environment/index_en.htm)