No C 56/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 3. 90 
Opinion on Environmental policy, a fundamental aspect of economic and social development 
(90/C 56/06) 
On 20 June 1989 the Economic and Social Committee decided, in accordance with the fourth 
paragraph of Article 20 of the Rules of Procedure, to draw up an opinion on Environmental 
policy, a fundamental aspect of economic and social development. 
The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which 
was responsible for the preparatory work, adopted its opinion on 31 October 1989. Mr 
Beretta was rapporteur. 
On 15 November 1989, at its 271st plenary session, the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted unanimously the following opinion. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Strenuous efforts and a consistent environmen­
tal policy are needed for a globally positive evolution 
of the interactions and relationships of living beings 
with each other and with the natural environment. This 
appears to be the thinking behind the insertion in the 
Treaties, following the Single Act, of a chapter on the 
environment and the decision to make 1987 the Year of 
the Environment. The Economic and Social Committee 
welcomed and emphasized the scope of this approach, 
which conferred full legitimacy in law on the Com­
munity's environmental policy and named it as a com­
ponent of all the other policies of the Community. 
1.2. As a result, new responsibilities have also been 
placed on the Committee, as the representative of econ­
omic and social interests; it is no accident that consul­
tation of the Committee is now mandatory for all 
proposals concerning the environment, on the basis of 
the new Articles 130r and 130s which have been inserted 
in the Treaty. Consultation of the Committee is also 
mandatory for all proposals to do with the completion 
of the single market and based on Article 100a, which 
provides for a high level of protection in the fields of 
health, safety and environmental protection. 
1.3. A new phase has been entered: activity regarding 
environmental legislation and rules has been stepped 
up, with provisions being harmonized in view of the 
single market; there is also an ever-increasing interac­
tion between the various aspects of environmental pro­
tection, pollution prevention and other policies. 
As long ago as its opinion on the fourth programme, 
the Committee recommended that the Commission, 
'bearing in mind the relevance of this environmental 
programme to economic, social and employment pol­
icy', should involve employers' and workers' organiz­
ations and representative consumer and environmental 
groups in its implementation, and do the 'groundwork 
... for collaboration at national, regional and local 
levels1). 1.4. The Committee is a major forum for discussions 
between these groups, and it has tried hard these last 
few years to make an effective contribution to the 
dialogue on the environment, which is increasingly 
important to ensuring the quality of development. 
1.5. In fact the various opinions adopted by the 
Environment Section have always highlighted the links 
between the harmonization of environmental standards 
at a high level and the socioeconomic consequences of 
such provisions (redeployment of production, jobs), as 
well as the importance of making the public aware of 
environmental issues and of making a specific commit­
ment to environmental education. 
1.6. In the opinion on the fourth programme the 
Committee stressed the importance of an overall 
approach which would extend the scope of the directive 
on environmental impact assessment to 'all relevant 
Community measures and policy areas'. 
In addition, when assessing the proposal for a regu­
lation concerning Community action on the environ­
ment, the Committee stressed the inadequacy of the 
funds provided (2) and called for an increase in them in 
the medium term. 
A similar comment was expressed with respect to the 
research funds set aside for the STEP-Epoch pro­
gramme, which is supposed to consolidate the scientific 
bases of a policy for preventing damage to the environ­
ment. 
1.7. In its reflections starting with the report and the 
opinion on the social aspects of the internal market and 
culminating in the opinion on basic Community social 
rights, the Committee emphasized the significance that 
should be attached to the environmental question when 
seeking to achieve qualitative growth at Community 
level, singling out the right to environmental protection 
as one of the basic social rights. 
(') OJ No C 180, 8. 7. 1987. (2) OJ No C 232, 31. 8. 1987. 
7. 3. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 56/15 
The Committee has pointed out that the defence and 
upgrading of nature's heritage, the safeguarding of 
natural climatic cycles, the optimum use of land, living 
conditions, clean technologies and the safety of prod­
ucts of the soil and of technology have become issues 
towards which it is useful, expedient and—for some— 
even obligatory to direct research and channel invest­
ments. All this in the knowledge that the possibility of 
turning the economy in such directions is not only a 
task for individual countries but, as part of the develop­
ment of an overall 'common policy', one for a European 
Community looking to the future. 
1.8. Still on the question of this general approach, the 
opinion on the economic situation in the Community 
in the first half of 1989 devoted a chapter to 'active 
environmental protection for an efficient economy'^), 
in which it emphasized, in line with previous ESC 
pronouncements, the contribution which more exten­
sive and appropriate environmental protection could 
make to qualitative growth and stating that: 
'Environmental protection creates jobs (investments, 
development of new environmentally friendly goods 
which are particularly suitable for export). In addition, 
environmental protection is often a requirement for the 
restructuring of industry and the creation of new jobs, 
e.g. in traditional industrial areas where the presence 
of old dumps and polluted land hampers restructuring. 
Firms which switch over to new processes or products 
at an early stage also gain a competitive advantage over 
others which do not adapt promptly to environmental 
requirements (e.g. motor vehicles equipped with cata­
lytic converters).' 
1.9. The synergy of economic development and safe­
guarding the environment within the framework of an 
integrated approach has also been stressed in the recent 
Information report on a policy for upland areas. 
1.10. As regards the impact of environmental policy 
on specific policies, attention should be drawn to the 
opinion on the environment and agriculture, which 
highlights the key role which farmers can play in pro­
tecting the environment (2). 
1.11. The need for more specific reflections on the 
link between the environment and socioeconomic devel­
opment is confirmed by a series of authoritative state­
ments by representatives of the Commission, ranging 
from the speech of President Delors when presenting the 
Commission's programme for 1989 to the declaration 
of Commissioner Ripa di Meana to the Committee's 
Environment Section on 27 June 1989. 
(!) OJ No C 201, 7. 8. 1989, p. 8. 
(2) OJNoC298, 27. 11. 1989. The Commission's intention, confirmed recently, to 
present a report on the 'costs of the non-environment' 
will be an apt amplification of the Cecchini report: the 
advent of the single market must serve as a positive 
opportunity for the development of a policy for high-
level environmental protection. 
2. The conditions for qualitative growth 
2.1. The initiative taken by the Community insti­
tutions shows how awareness of and interest in environ­
mental issues is increasing and how such policy tends 
to be considered in overall terms; it also shows how 
concrete intervention must be kept within the confines 
of the regulatory scope provided by the Treaty sup­
plemented by the Single Act, and of the modest funds 
available. 
Such a situation reflects a universal dichotomy: on the 
one hand, realization of the seriousness of environmen­
tal damage has made this a central topic of discussions 
within and between interest groups, political parties, 
trade unions and the institutions themselves; on the 
other hand those who have responsibility for govern­
ment must take account of economic constraints when 
planning action. 
In this way delays build up and the possibilities of 
restoring the balance are compromised. 
2.2. Even if it cannot be easily quantified, the very 
extent of the deterioration of real conditions of pros­
perity represented by the economic cost of the 'non-
environmental policy' necessitates the conception, for­
mulation and implementation of a long-sighted pro­
duction policy, able to reconcile economic efficiency 
and environmental compatibility. 
In some countries (the Netherlands, Germany and 
Sweden) studies have been begun on assessing in econ­
omic terms the 'environmental domestic product' as an 
indicator complementing the 'gross domestic product'. 
While it is difficult to draw up an exact balance sheet 
of the costs and benefits resulting from a different 
orientation of production, consumption and services, 
the increasingly frequent recurrence of environmental 
disasters, the major risks and the health consequences 
of using certain substances should persuade the Com­
munity and the Member States to provide instruments 
for a preventive objective assessment of the economic 
advantages which are at the root of the major choices 
of orientation. 
The capacity of science and technology to make a major 
contribution depends on more resources being made 
available and on improved international cooperation. 
No C 56/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 3. 90 
2.3. It follows that the redirection of development 
tendencies cannot help but involve large areas. The 
Community dimension appears to offer sufficient scope 
for significantly influencing new choices at a time when, 
among other things, the full implementation of the 
single market requires homogenous production con­
ditions and seeks to improve the competitiveness of 
Community industry (1). A Community-level environ­
mental policy, pursued as a key component of develop­
ment strategy, can also do much to ensure that econ­
omic and social cohesion which has now been given a 
legal foundation in the Single Act. 
In this way more and more people are becoming aware 
of the limits of the present model for development 
and consumption, and are increasingly convinced that, 
instead of defending the status quo, it would be better 
to give production a more environmental bent, as this 
could stimulate a new phase of growth. 
2.4. So it seems that a consensus has been, or can 
be, reached which is sufficiently wide-ranging and solid 
to usher in sweeping changes; these will have a gradual 
but significant effect on the relationship of economic 
operators and individual citizens with the socioeconom­
ic structure through which new patterns emerge. 
There are, of course, prices to be paid and resources 
must be channelled to new priorities. Society also has 
a responsibility to future generations. This does not 
mean breaking with the 'polluter pays' principle, the 
application of which should be enforced more and more 
strictly so as to better satisfy the demand for prevention 
and a cleaner environment. It is not merely a question 
of repairing the damage and sending the bill to those 
responsible for causing it: to avoid degradation, one 
must invest the resources required to achieve changes 
in trade and production processes which are compatible 
with safeguarding health and the environment. 
3. Short and medium-term implementation of overall, 
concrete and consistent action concerning the 
environment 
3.1. In the light of all that has been set out here, it 
is necessary, possible and, in view of the rapid growth 
in environmental deterioration and the corresponding 
(*) On page 72 of the Kreisky commission's Programme for Full 
Employment in the 1990s—Pergamon Press 1989—it is stated 
that: 'If an environmental protection programme were carried 
out in all European countries, the additional spending would 
have a multiplier effect of 1,5 to 2—that is, the value added 
would be 1,5 to 2 times the original expenditures.' rise in the costs of cleaning it up, urgent that Com­
munity initiatives make a quantum leap. 
An active environmental policy cannot overlook the 
constraints of the budget, one should work to create the 
economic, social, political and institutional conditions 
within which the compatibility framework may be 
assessed differently. 
3.2. The social problems of yesterday are the politi­
cal problems of today and will become the economic 
problems of tomorrow. Once the need to take account 
of the environment when analysing production strategi­
es has been identified, is appears that one should base 
oneself on an 'environment-use ethic' capable of guiding 
production decisions. 
Such an ethic requires a development model which 
fosters qualitative growth and aims to onderpin real 
per capita income without over-exploiting the financial 
or natural resources of the socioeconomic system. 
3.3. The Commission's fourth environmental pro­
gramme has set out the principle of incorporating 
environmental policy into the various policies. 
3.4. The initiatives taken so far have been intermit­
tent and poorly coordinated, but the results achieved, 
while fragmented, may make it easier to bring about 
an overall, and therefore better targeted, policy. 
For instance, the relative, though considerable, progress 
which has been achieved in the field of air pollution by 
Community action and the measures provided for in 
the sector of pollution by urban and industrial waste 
can only be consolidated and amplified if an overall 
strategy is defined and put into effect with the aims 
of promoting the use of clean technologies and non-
polluting products, reducing the amount of waste that 
cannot be advantageously recycled and decontaminat­
ing polluted soils. This also means that right from the 
beginning of the decision-making process, account is 
taken of the probable effects on the environment of 
planned courses of action. 
3.4. Environmental degradation, moreover, can be 
stopped, and a more acceptable balance achieved, not 
only through regulations, but, above all, if awareness 
of the environmental issue is made a part of decision­
making in all sectors, from agriculture to industry, 
from energy to transport, from tourism to regional 
development. 
3.5. The Commission's programmes state that it is 
intended to carry out an analysis of the costs of the 'non-
7. 3. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 56/17 
environment' and form a European agency to gather 
information on the state of the environment. 
The availability of objective information can have a 
significant influence on the development of a Com­
munity strategy which better incorporates environmen­
tal needs into all technical planning and decision-taking 
processes, thereby affirming in tangible terms the pre­
ventive nature of the Community's environmental 
policy. 
3.6. Information and assessments as regards environ­
mental conditions and pressures should cover, in par­
ticular, the quality of the air and emissions, the quality 
of water, pollutants, natural resources, the state ot the 
soil and its use, and the situation in big cities. 
It could be economically convenient and help reform a 
lot to prepare and equip competent operators not only 
for survey work but also for providing environmental 
advice for businesses, particularly for small and 
medium-sized firms, agricultural and industrial cooper­
atives and providers of services. 
Such operators could also provide useful information 
which would enhance the awareness of consumers, 
and particularly young people in cooperation with the 
schools system. 
All this will make it easier to coordinate sectoral inter­
ventions with area inventions, especially in the tran­
sitional phase of cleaning up. 
3.7. A prompt and correct adoption of Community 
environmental standards by the Member States and an 
improved circulation of information would help ensure 
growth later on and a more rational policy for the 
environment. 
As things are now, it might be worth considering the 
need to redefine the respective roles and powers of the 
Community and the Member States, bearing in mind 
the various factors involved and the different stages 
reached in implementing environmental standards, so 
as to encourage the involvement of the two sides of 
industry and representative associations of consumers 
and environmentalists. 
3.8. As regards the planetary aspects of the environ­
mental issue, the Community as such is taking part in 
international talks on safeguarding the ozone layer and 
in the search for a solution to two most serious prob­
lems, deforestation and desertification. The Com­
munity's contribution will be all the more appreciated 
in political, trading, social and cultural relations which non-EEC countries if it is able to operate consistent 
policies within its own borders. 
It is therefore obvious that it would be advantageous for 
the Member States to give the Community institutions 
more resources and instruments to implement an en­
vironmental strategy which can have a positive influ­
ence on quality in the market place and on restoring 
balance in the ecosystem. 
Moreover, the declared political will of the G7 countries 
at the Paris summit poses serious and complex problems 
of adaptation at the production, marketing and strictly 
economic level. 
3.9. Like the institutions, society as a whole is taking 
on growing responsabilities for the adoption and 
implementation of a model for qualitative growth. 
This involves paying more and more attention to 
environmental issues, and adopting a more united 
approach so that there is greater consistency between 
people's awareness of the problems and actual patterns 
of behaviour. It also means firms, trade unions and 
associations for protecting the consumer and the 
environment should be guaranteed conditions for par­
ticipation and appropriate instruments for facilitating 
the adjustement of their actions. 
3.9.1. Consumers are assuming an important role: 
they choose their representatives in political and legis­
lative bodies, and, being in a position to influence the 
market, their behaviour is potentially decisive. 
Environmentalists' associations have an equally import­
ant role as regards the gathering and interpretation of 
information on the environment. Their influence on 
public opinion can help to get people and institutions 
to pay more attention to conserving habitat and the 
biosphere. 
People should therefore have all the information they 
need to allow their choices to take account of social, 
economic and ecological factors; their associations 
should have adequate instruments for improving and 
extending education activities, influencing the setting 
of standards and monitoring compliance with them, 
and having a say in the use and quality of products 
advertising. 
3.9.2. For entrepreneurs in the various sectors, the 
ability to help develop research and perfect advanced 
techniques for adapting production to stricter stan­
dards, so as to bring about safer goods and cleaner 
processes, may help remove doubts about the exploi­
tation of expensive installations and acquire or consoli­
date niches in an increasingly demanding market. 
No C 56/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 3. 90 
The incentives and aids that can result for firms thanks 
to suitable Community and national economic policies 
are of some importance here. 
3.9.3. It is increasingly evident that workers see a 
healthy environment as being just as important as opti­
mum growth and full employment. They think that in 
overall terms the environment may lead to more jobs. 
So instead of adopting a defensive attitude, trade unions 
intend to contribute actively to the development of an 
alternative pattern of demand and to the improvement 
of working conditions and the environment. 
They are aware that qualitative growth will have a 
varying impact on jobs in different sectors. They feel 
that job trends following the implementation of a policy 
to help the environment will depend om many interact­
ing factors such as the state of the economy, the nature 
of the measures taken, the terms for financing, the trend 
of prices and the influence on the market of the demand 
for goods and services. 
Trade unions consider that there should be appropriate 
participation in the relevant decisions. 
4. The means and the instruments necessary to achieve 
a continuing community strategy for better quality 
sustainable development 
4.1. Any policy designed to bring about a change in 
the economic, social, political and institutional con­
ditions on which new and different compatibility 
relationships are to be based needs adequate means and 
instruments. 
At Community level, as things stand at present, the 
development of such a policy requires much thought 
concerning: 
(a) adjustments to the institutional aspects of the Com­
munity's environmental policy; 
(b) redirecting the use of 'own resources'; and 
(c) providing enough resources to encourage initiatives 
and actions that are consistent with the changes 
being sought. 
4.2. Adjustments to the institutional aspects 
4.2.1. As far as the more strictly economic aspects 
are concerned analisys has shown that completely free 
intra-Community trade in view of the coming single 
market and the impact of Community production on the world market will bring a need for a new environ­
mental policy. In it the Community should play the 
strategic role of defining, supporting and coordinating 
intervention to help the individual Member States 
implement the measures necessary to halt and prevent 
environmental deterioration. 
4.2.2. Firstly, therefore, it would be a good idea to 
clarify and remove the contradictions in Article 130r of 
the Single Act, which have led to differing interpret­
ations (environmental policy defined at Community 
level with the costs basically being borne by the Member 
States). 
4.2.3. Another good idea would be to overcome the 
difficulties which are often encountered when defining 
an adequate legal basis for harmonization measures 
which interface significantly with environmental pro­
tection (relationship between Articles 100a and 130s of 
the Single Act). 
4.3. Redeployment of own resources 
4.3.1. The recent reform of the structural funds, 
which is designed to sustain multiyear programmes, lays 
down that the measures financed should be compatible 
with environmental policy. 
However, the relevant regulation only allow the finan­
cing of measures to help the environment if they are 
linked to structural-policy aims. 
4.3.2. The problems of the environment go far 
beyond the framework provided by such regulations 
and because of their urgency, their seriousness and their 
extent require the choice of structural policies to take 
second place to the finding of a solution, and not 
the other way round as planned for and regulated at 
present. 
4.3.3. A small but significant revision of the regu­
lation would make two things possible: firstly, it would 
be possible to integrate more efficiently the modest 
funding currently available from various sources for 
improvement of the environment; and secondly, the 
aims of the three structural funds could be safeguarded, 
with the EAGGF concentrating more on the adjustment 
of agricultural structure, the ERDF focusing on better 
use of regional resources and the ESF's vocational guid­
ance and training schemes being stepped up to meet 
new requirements. 
7. 3. 90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 56/19 
4.3.4. The problem which arises in practice is that 
of ensuring the pursuance of structural policy objectives 
in accordance with, and not in contradiction of, an 
environmental policy for the whole of the European 
Community. 
4.4. Providing enough resources 
4.4.1. The integration of environmental policy with 
the Community's other policies requires adequate 
financing, sufficient to pay for those initiatives which 
might not be considered a priority from the point of 
view of short-term productivity. 
4.4.2. Hence the European Parliament's call for a 
new budget heading entitled "Environment'95", design­
ed to encourage investments in the environmental sector 
which could not be financed by the structural funds, 
and without any regional limitations. 
This proposal, if adopted, would allow ECU 20 million 
to be made available for the next financial year. The 
fund would te beefed up until it accounted for 1 % of 
the Community's resources in 1995. 
Quite apart from any judgement of the sums planned, 
the Committee shares the Parliament's aims and fully 
supports this initiative. 
4.4.3. With prospects like these, and on the basis of 
the fourth environmental programme, action in priority 
sectors for intervention could be stepped up and eligi­
bility criteria established for programmes relating to: 
— integrated management projects for high-risk zones 
aimed at re-establishing an acceptable environmen­
tal equilibrium and reclaiming abandoned and con­
taminated land, 
— active conservation and integrated management 
projects for the habilitation and improvement of 
natural ecosystems and ecosystems affected by 
human activity, 
— projects to prevent soil erosion, particularly desert­
ification and deforestation, 
— projects to improve environmental compatibility in 
sectors which put the land under most pressure 
(energy, chemicals, agriculture, transport, urban 
development), 
— projects for the recycling of urban and industrial 
waste and the adoption of adequate technology for 
the elimination of toxic waste, 
— projects for the protection of water and the atmos­
phere, and 
— projects to halt urban decline and improve sani­
tation systems. 4.5. Because of the growing need for funds which a 
prevention-oriented environmental policy requires and 
the constraints imposed by the budget, consideration 
should be given to the case for redirecting existing 
Community resources or defining rules for channelling 
'targeted contributions' to the 'Community environ­
ment fund' which the European Parliament is pro­
posing. 
5. Conclusion 
5.1. It is generally recognized that development can­
not continue to be identified with purely quantitative, 
and non-selective growth. Sufficient means and instru­
ments must be provided at the appropriate level to 
implement an environmental policy which, while not 
being anti-technology, can be channelled so as to 
express all its innovative potential for a different form 
of development. 
5.2. If present production and consumption patterns 
are to be changed, direct regulations (standards, con­
trols) must become stricter and it will be necessary to 
adopt measures for the formation and distribution of 
resources which will allow forms of incentive, and 
support through credit and tax measures designed to 
facilitate the desired changes. 
5.3. It is not only a question of avoiding the dispersal 
of an enormous heritage of achievements and capacities. 
It is also necessary to work towards ensuring that goods 
and production processes are environmentally friendly 
and to guide and sustain demand appropriately. 
5.4. There is therefore an obvious need for a Com­
munity initiative which does not stop at monitoring or 
forecasting but which extends to guiding things so that 
supply and demand meet each other at levels which 
are increasingly consistent with protecting health and 
conserving the environment. 
5.5. The Committee fervently hopes the Community 
institutions will take the steps which are possible now 
and start thinking about how to carry out the strategic-
changes necessary to safeguard and restore the balance 
of nature, and to improve living conditions. 
Greater continuity and coordination of measures to 
incorporate environmental issues in Community poli­
cies are necessary if the abovementioned changes in the 
Community area are to be identified and implemented, 
and if the Community is to participate in international 
negotiations. 
No C 56/20 Official Journal of the European Communities 7. 3. 90 
In the light of the assessments and recommendations 
of the present opinion, the Committee can make further 
Done at Brussels, 15 November 1989, 
1. Introduction 
1.1. Subject to the following comments and pro­
posals, the Fxonomic and Social Committee generally 
approves the Commission's proposal to set up the much 
needed and long-awaited European Environment Agen­
cy. The Committee accordingly urges the Council of 
Ministers and the Member States to adopt the proposed 
Regulation rapidly and effectively implement its pro­
visions at European, international, national and local 
levels. 
The main reasons for the Committee's approval of the 
proposal and its formal request are set out below. 
2. General appraisal and reasons for the proposal 
2.1. Urgent need for an international instrument 
2.1.1. The creation of a Community and transna­
tional instrument for monitoring data and the environ­
ment is now of vital importance. Industrial and natural 
hazards, the major disasters of recent years and both 
good and bad experiences in the field of the environ-and more comprehensive contributions. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE 
ment, make it more and more obvious that the present 
and future, as well as our vision of the world and of 
society, are going to be increasingly shaped by ecologi­
cal factors and by the interdependence of, and active 
involvement of individuals and society in, economic 
development and natural cycles. 
2.1.2. Economic growth and protection of the 
environment can no longer be regarded as mutually 
exclusive. Today the view is widely held that the more 
an economy is based on the continuous recycling of 
primary materials the better and the more environment-
friendly it will be. It is now essential (and will become 
increasingly important) for every individual, firm and 
institution to be ecologically minded, something which 
requires full and prompt information. This in turn 
is out of the question unless we have the necessary 
environment monitoring and information instruments. 
Information is also important as ecologically harmful 
production will become more and more costly, just as 
many economic activities will be adversely affected by 
the deterioration of the environment. Opinion on the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) on the establishment of the 
European Environment Agency and the European Environment Monitoring and Information 
Network 
(90/C 56/07) 
On 24 July 1989 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 130s of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which 
was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 
31 October 1989. The rapporteur was Mr Vercellino. 
At its 271st plenary session (meeting of 15 November 1989) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following opinion unanimously.