Brussels, 27/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - German Christian Democrat Karl Heinz Florenz, president of the environment committee at the European Parliament and responsible for the bulk of the REACH legislation on chemical products expressed his delight on Thursday that the European Commissioner for industry Günter Verheugen had “moved” on his controversial proposal. Following an informal meeting between them both on Wednesday afternoon, Florenz explained that Verheugen saw the plan as containing ten points and that he had presented the continuation of the REACH process as “a starting point for agreement between the EU institutions on this difficult dossier”. Florenz, who is expected to meet Verheugen and Stavros Dimas Commissioner for the environment, said that they had to let of the “vain” hopes for a completely new legislative proposal. Florenz criticised the German minister for the environment as well, Jürgen Trittin (Green) and called on him to finally make a contribution to the “efficient modification of the REACH system” and the creation of a European agency on strong chemical products by forgetting “German selfishness”
Karl Heinz Florenz did not spare his colleagues either, who he called on to give up their extreme positions and focus on the essential. In his press statement, Florenz asserted that during an environment committee meeting he had succeeded in convincing rapporteur Guido Sacconi (PES, Italian), as well as leaders of other political groups of the usefulness of his approach. Florenz insisted that in order to maintain its credibility, Parliament had to have a clear position on the central aspects of REACH and that all political groups should say what were the fundamental points for them. Florenz said that points should include the se cost of the registration procedure, intellectual copyright and questions such as animal testing.