Brussels, 03/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the last Environment Council under the Dutch Presidency, EU environment ministers drafted guidelines for the review of the 2001 Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) set out at the Gothenburg Summit. Their conclusions will form the Environment Council's contribution to the March 2005 European Council, which will review both the SDS and the Lisbon Strategy.
Noting that the EU aims to achieve a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come, through ensuring that economic growth, environmental quality and social cohesion go hand in hand, the Council stressed that the SDS remains valid and provides guideline principles for all EU policies, but should be updated and revised by taking into account recent developments at EU and global level. The council underlined that the revised SDS should include, inter alia, appropriate goals, address the intergenerational aspect, incorporate the external dimension of sustainable development, strengthen the synergy between the three pillars of sustainable development (the environment, economy and social affairs) and strengthen the synergy between the Lisbon Strategy and the SDS so that these strategies become more mutually supportive.
The Council invited the Commission to present in time for the Spring Council 2005 a comprehensive stock-taking of the progress in the implementation of SDS, including the external dimension; an analysis of the key findings of the public consultation launched at the end of July 2004 on revising the SDS (the consultation period ended on 31 October); and policy options for a revised SDS.
The Council invited heads of state at the Spring Council 2005 to give political guidance of the revision of the SDS with the aim of adopting a revised strategy at a later European Council in 2005.