Brussels, 20/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission held a policy debate on the thematic environmental strategies foreseen in the sixth action programme for the environment, from which it emerges that all Commissioners are in favour of implementing all the thematic strategies, the Commission's spokesperson said. Commissioner Stavros Dimas was tasked with presenting proposals this autumn on each of the seven thematic strategies for which adoption is foreseen end 2005. The seven strategies concern air pollution, the protection of marine ecosystems, the prevention and recycling of waste, soil protection, sustainable use of natural resources, the sustainable use of pesticides, and the urban environment. These proposals will then be discussed individually by the Commission, in turn, the spokesman said. She said that all the Commissioners are in favour of protecting the environment and that, within the College, there is very substantial support in favour of environmental policy. She stressed that nobody had asked for non-adoption of thematic strategies. Early July, at the request of President Barroso and several other Commissioners, the Commission had decided to postpone adoption of the strategies concerning air pollution
and protecting the marine ecosystems, which originally featured on the European Commission's agenda for 13 July (see EUROPE 8983 of 5 July, p.8). Barroso hoped that before the first strategies were adopted, the European Commission would hold a policy debate on the EU's environment policy to check whether the thematic strategies were compatible with other EU policies, like those to boost the EU's competitiveness and create new jobs. A Commission spokesperson said the Commissioners' policy debate had clearly demonstrated that the environment policy was not incompatible with competitiveness.