Brussels, 10/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The intense political debate on risk assessment and authorisation of GMOs in the EU held centre stage at the Environment Council on Thursday (see EUROPE 9148), which ended in a success. Part way through the meeting, chair Jan Prol told reporters he was delighted with the conclusions adopted on the thematic strategy to improve the EU's air quality, describing this as a very important step for future discussion of a draft directive tackling the smallest particulate emissions for the first time. The Council conclusions are a sign of the Member States' commitment to help improve air quality in the EU, said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, noting that the strategy would cut the number of premature deaths from 370,000 to 230,000 a year from 2020 onwards. By cutting people's exposure to fine particulates (PM 2.5), the EU would be catching up with the United States and Japan, which already have legislation, he added. Prol said the debate on the new Euro V targets for cutting motor vehicle air pollution was excellent, and he was delighted the ministers had felt it was necessary to start thinking of the next stage and send industry clear signals right now that stricter regulations than Euro V would be required. The adoption of conclusions on climate change for the launch of multinational negotiations on the post-2012 situation, parallel international dialogue on tighter international cooperation (Europe will be returning to this) and preparatory conclusions for the EU Spring Summit were other areas where the Council meeting made progress. The main outcomes:
Air pollution. The Council adopted conclusions welcoming the proposed thematic strategy and highlighting the scale of action that would be required. A combination of national, EU and international measures will be needed if the targets are to be met efficiently and affordably, and the Council called for better integration of air pollution issues in farm, energy and transport policies at both EU and national level. To help Member States achieve the ambitious targets that have been proposed, the Council urged the Commission to come up with EU measures as soon as possible on heavy vehicle emissions (Euro VI) and fixed combustion emissions; and a draft review of the national emissions ceilings directive, taking account of the problems encountered by the Member States in implementing the directive and not ruling out further measures at EU level to enable Member States to meet their national emissions ceilings. The Council instructed the Commission to continue working on reducing shipping and maritime transport emissions and to explore options for cutting farm emissions.
The specific problems facing Poland and the Netherlands with the draft directive to accompany the thematic strategy were taken into account through a general comment in the legislation noting problems currently encountered by Member States in implementing current legislation and recognising the need to explore options and criteria for a degree of flexibility. The Netherlands lodged a statement for the minutes of the meeting, and Dutch minister Van Geel pointed out that the Netherlands was not the only country not meeting the current rules, but was simply the only one actually admitting it. He said that without cleaner cars, nothing could be done to improve air quality because half of all air pollution in the Netherlands came from other countries. The Netherlands wants Euro V to be introduced earlier than planned, at the start of 2008, and Euro 6 in 2011. For PM 2.5 particulates, it is calling for the emissions limits to be voluntary.
Euro V rules. Commissioner Gunter Verheugen unveiled the new Euro V rules to ministers, due to come into force part way through 2008 at the earliest, to cut diesel car particulate emissions by 80% and car and van nitrogen dioxide emissions by 20%. Most countries called for the adding of a long-term perspective to the draft legislation, wanting the next steps to be set out on significant reductions in nitrogen dioxide emissions. Some delegations, like France, Italy and the Czech Republic, expressed reservations about the cost of such measures on the car industry and Commissioner Verheugen himself added that any emissions reductions had to be technologically and economically viable.
Spring Summit. As its contribution to the European Council of 23 and 24 March, the Council adopted conclusions encouraging heads of state to recognise that the environment policy makes a huge contribution to growth, jobs and quality of life, with environmental measures having a positive impact on public health and healthcare costs, social cohesion and inclusions through job creation, and energy security and energy efficiency.
The conclusions call on the European Council to validate the following priority actions in order to: - promote and rapidly diffuse eco-innovations and environmental technologies; - develop a new energy policy that uses to the full the synergies between promotion of energy supply security, sustainable energy supply, competitiveness, innovation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energies; - prepare without delay options for an international regime for combating climate change for the post-2012 period by initiating far-reaching dialogue on concerted long-term action, and by envisaging additional commitments for industrialised countries; - review the environmental structural indicators so that the environmental dimension of the Lisbon Strategy is more comprehensive and coherent; - and implement as a matter of urgency the EU aim of stopping the decline in biodiversity by 2010, especially by integrating this requirement in all relevant policies for the Lisbon agenda and by developing a structural indicator on biodiversity.
A new brochure presenting ten indicators of progress in the field of the environment and published annually by the DG Environment at the Commission was distributed to ministers. In ten fields relating to environmental policies, these indicators highlight progress accomplished (organic farming, atmospheric emissions), trends that are still worrying despite progress achieved (town waste: production and processing, climate change - greenhouse gas emissions), or mediocre performances (energy intensity, share of electricity produced from renewable energies, biodiversity - bird populations, fishing - catch volumes exceeding safety limits, air quality in towns, transport).
For further information, consult: http://www.europ.eu.int/comm/environment/indicators_en.htm