Brussels, 20/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - With the REACH proposal on the registration, evaluation and limited authorisation of chemicals having made good progress in the Council and moving towards first reading at the Parliament (15 and 16 November), Hartmut Nassauer, a German Christian Democrat, feels that this future European regulation is not ready for a political agreement within the Council in November. Hoping for such an agreement at the Competitiveness Council of 28 and 29 November, as the UK Presidency does is, he feels, not simply jumping the gun, but actually unacceptable, as it would have the effect of depriving the new German government of any say on the chapter. However, Mr Nassauer continues, it does not take a genius to work out that the coalition government of Angela Merkel will not be defending the position adopted by Green environment Minister Jürgen Trittin, who had the upper hand on the REACH dossier up until now, as this position is "hostile to the interests of the economy". "For the UK Presidency to do all it can to tie up an agreement without taking account of the German position would be unacceptable to Germany. The decision must be postponed until next year", Mr Nassauer told a small group of journalists in Brussels on Thursday. The MEP believes that it is particularly important to take account of Germany's revised position in the negotiations at the Council as Germany is one of the Member States which would have the most to lose from the impact of this future piece of legislation on industry. Furthermore, he added, it will be more appropriate to hear what Germany had to say as the committee on environment of the Parliament has carried out a " major tightening-up of the initial proposal by the European Commission" (EUROPE 9042). He criticised the approach adopted by the Parliamentary committee, which he described as far too bureaucratic, as it added three "expensive" tests for substances produced or imported in small quantities to the registration requirements of the regulation (one to 10 tonnes and 10 to 100 tonnes) "which would remove substances from the market due to cost rather than problems with safety". Hartmut Nassauer was just as scathing of the requirements for information based on the quantity produced, rather than on the real risks from effective exposure to the substances, of the obligation to share data and limiting authorisations to five years, which is a symptom of "the endless bureaucratic process", which is an "obstacle to investment and innovation".
For all of these reasons, Mr Nassauer does not despair of finding a compromise to rally the greatest possible number of members of the European Parliament to the views of the committees on the internal market/consumers and on industry/research, at the plenary session of November. On the consultations being carried out within the Council, Hartmut Nassauer feels that it is vitally important for these to go on for as long as is needed in order to "prevent the REACH legislation from digging the graves of employment in Europe".