Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on "Further development of Community environmental policy and the creation of an ecological union"

(1999/C 198/07)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the decision of its bureau of 16 September 1998 to draw up, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 198c of the Treaty establishing the European Community, an Opinion on the Further Development of Community Environmental Policy and the Creation of an Ecological Union, and to instruct Commission 4 for Spatial Planning, Urban Issues, Energy, the Environment to prepare the Committee's work on the subject;

having regard to the draft opinion (CdR 310/98 rev. 2) adopted by Commission 4 on 11 December 1998 (rapporteur: Mr Erwin Teufel);

A. WHEREAS:

1. the drawing up of a strategy for incorporating environmental considerations into European Union policies is at present a particularly important task for the EU bodies,

2. the Amsterdam Treaty provides a suitable legal basis for further development and progress in the field of EU environmental policy,

3. a suitable division of responsibilities in areas relating to the environment is needed between the national, regional and local levels in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity,

4. forward-looking and far-reaching approaches to integrating environment protection requirements into all Community policies and to gradually eliminating the ecologically counter-productive aspects of European law can only be drawn up on a scientific basis, taking account of feasibility aspects and on the basis of the precautionary principle,

5. the environmental rules of the EU Member States currently differ, as does the stringency with which European rules are applied,

6. significant disparities exist in the individual Member States, and their regions and local authorities, with regard to the frequency of official checks and to the action taken in the event of abuse, which could lead to serious environmental damage and distort competition in the internal market,

7. the regional and local authorities and the courts have a special responsibility for the implementation and monitoring of Community environmental law,

8. the third follow-up conference to the Rio de Janeiro climate framework convention, held in Kyoto in December 1997, adopted specific, if somewhat unambitious, requirements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The reductions agreed (at least 5 % for the industrialized countries) are less than those called for by the EU,

9. the endeavours to preserve biological diversity, particularly those across regional and national borders, must be continued,

10. the man-made environment reflects the economic, ecological and cultural development of Europe's regions, and is the basis for agriculture and forestry, forms of cultivation which are as sustainable as possible and biological diversity, as well as being of great importance for the people of the region and for tourism,

11. soil, alongside air, water and sunlight, are among the natural and essential foundations of life for mankind, animals and plants,

12. the consumption of soil, erosion and compaction, as well as introduction of toxic substances, are endangering to an ever greater extent the usability of soil for mankind and the fulfilment of its functions in nature and in the agricultural cycle,

13. there is still scope for developing the promotion of agricultural production procedures which do not pollute water and for reducing diffuse pollution,

14. these deficits cannot be made good, nor can the objectives of sustainable water policy be achieved, by means of EU water protection directives, which to some extent overlap and which are no longer mutually consistent,

15. Europe's citizens have a growing need for access to education, employment, health services, etc. which has to be met in a sustainable way, not necessarily by providing more transport facilities,

16. road haulage will increase sharply in the internal market in the medium term as a result of the growing together of the European economy, and trans-national long-distance road haulage will account for a significant part of this growth,

17. vehicle and fuel emissions from road traffic are already a significant source of noise and air pollution which is damaging to human health and the climate,

18. shortcomings have arisen in rail transport, and major potential for innovation, particularly in long-distance freight transport, has so far not been exploited,

19. competition between the individual modes of transport is distorted, and fair competition should be established, e.g. by the consideration of external costs,

20. the polluter pays principle must be the underlying principle of all Community programmes and environmental legislation,

adopted the following opinion at its 28th plenary session held on 10 and 11 March 1999 (meeting of 10 March) by a majority vote.

B. INTRODUCTION

On the basis of the Amsterdam Treaty the European Union also has to regard itself as an ecological union. And this requirement affects the Community itself, the Member States and the regional and local authorities. A Europe which is growing together, in which political problems particularly in the fields of employment, social affairs and finance are to the fore, requires a new solidarity.

Among other things, this solidarity means not neglecting the environment and nature protection. In practice, however, environmental policy, which requires a particularly long view, has often been isolated from measures in other policy areas. In formulating and implementing all policies and measures, the new magic sustainability triangle of balanced development in the ecological, social and economic areas must be considered.

This applies not only at Community level, but also to the Member States and regional and local authorities.

The Committee of the Regions welcomes the initiatives taken by the European Commission to promote within its institutional structures the integration of protection of nature and the environment into Community policies.

With this opinion the Committee of the Regions intends to:

- make a contribution to the implementation of the requirement for sustainable development now enshrined in the EU Treaty;

- put forward proposals for reducing distortions of competition;

- ensure a sustainable pan-European environmental policy designed to preserve the natural world.

C. REQUIREMENTS

1. Improvement of existing procedures and institutions

1.1. The Committee of the Regions is glad that, with the strong support of the European Parliament, the principle of sustainability has been written into Article 6 of the EC Treaty. This requirement now has to be fleshed out.

The Committee feels that the drawing up of a sustainability protocol, to be incorporated into the EC Treaty at the appropriate time, could make an important contribution here. A protocol of this kind could, like the subsidiarity protocol, lay down procedures and steps which would ensure that the principle of sustainability was observed at European level in measures, programmes and legal acts. Maximum administrative efficiency should be aimed for here.

The Committee of the Regions will, within the limitations of its powers, draw up a proposal for a sustainability protocol based on the discussions which have taken place in the European institutions and in some Member States. The protocol could also act as a guideline for action in the Member States.

1.2. The Committee of the Regions believes that an implementing programme is needed covering all measures aimed at the further development of Community environmental policy and the establishment of an ecological union. The implementing programme should contain a timetable and deadlines for the main areas of action as well as measures, and should also form a basis for the relevant green and white papers. The Committee of the Regions calls on the Commission, instead of revising the fifth action programme for the environment, to embark on a sixth programme which takes as starting point the goal of sustainable development, which embraces all areas of the Commission's activity and is based primarily on the Rio document.

1.3. The Committee of the Regions believes that, particularly in the environmental field, the discussion of a proper allocation of tasks, starting at local level and proceeding via the regions and Member States to European level, must be conducted with a view to the use of synergy effects and with due regard to the principle of subsidiarity.

The Committee of the Regions also believes that there should be a periodic appraisal of EU environmental law. The extent to which "soft law", i.e. voluntary undertakings by target groups based on agreements, can deliver better environmental protection results should be assessed at the same time.

The principles of voluntary environmental protection management by firms, introduced by the eco-audit, should be anchored yet more firmly in practice. This will entail participation by employees, development of their skills and a management strategy to be coordinated with the staff side in each firm.

The Committee also considers that a prior strategic assessment of the environmental impact of sectoral plans and programmes can help to mainstream the environment in the various policies.

1.4. The Committee of the Regions calls for an environmental stability pact between the EU, the Member States, regions and local authorities. This pact would develop further the Valencia Environment Charter in the run-up to EU enlargement and should make reference to the Aalborg Charter. The Committee of the Regions will as soon as possible be submitting a first draft of such a pact. Future EU members should endeavour to accede to this stability pact.

1.5. The Committee of the Regions calls for the establishment of an EU council of ecological experts. The council should submit a report to the European Commission every two years in which it would propose specific Community measures for the gradual elimination of the ecologically counter-productive aspects of European law and Community financing instruments and for developing the consideration given to environmental protection requirements in all Community policies. It could also give an expert opinion on individual questions and regularly monitor compliance with the principle of sustainability.

1.6. The EC Treaty should be amended to allow NGO representatives from the environmental field to be appointed to the Economic and Social Committee.

1.7. An environmental dialogue should be reinforced between the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission, with the participation of the Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development.

1.8. The regions and local authorities should develop programmes to promote citizen participation. As a first step in this direction, each region and local authority should establish a contact point, and where possible also an Internet website, to provide citizens with information on initiatives in their area, e.g. Agenda 21 or Habitat.

1.9. Every region should, in coordination with the local authorities, establish a longer-term framework of guidelines, for example in the form of an environmental plan for the achievement of sustainability, laying down specific objectives, with intermediate stages, measures and deadlines for implementation. The EU should also give suitable support to the exchange of experience and the coordination processes, in particular in border regions.

2. Environmental law and its application

2.1. The Committee of the Regions would like to lend its support to the Commission's efforts to develop Community environmental law further, with due regard to the principle of subsidiarity, partly in view of its important contribution to the achievement of fair competition, particularly by the setting of emission limit values and environmental quality standards. The Committee of the Regions urges the Commission to keep the required reporting in this connection within reasonable limits so that the results achieved, in the form of feedback, outweigh the effort involved in compiling such reports.

2.2. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Commission's proposal on minimum requirements for the nature and extent of official environmental protection inspections. It calls on the Council to take up this proposal and to adopt requirements as soon as possible which take account of practical needs, and, whilst keeping the work involved and cost within reasonable bounds, to put implementation throughout Europe on a comparable basis in the short term, in the medium term to bring about uniformity.

2.3. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the adoption of the Directive (96/61/EC) on integrated pollution prevention and control, which for the first time establishes a uniform European framework for the authorization and monitoring of industrial installations of particular relevance to the environment.

2.4. The Committee calls on the Commission to draw up without delay technical documents (BREF) for the individual types of industrial installation listed in directive 96/61/EC, which set out in detail the European environmental standard in the form of an emission limit value.

Only in this way can harmonization of the material requirements be achieved. Otherwise, directive 96/61/EC would go no further than harmonization of authorization and monitoring procedures, thus perpetuating distortions of competition.

2.5. The Committee of the Regions calls on the Commission to come forward as soon as possible with proposals for measures based on the concept of Integrated Product Policy, which covers the entire lifecycle of a product.

3. Raising awareness of sustainability through education and training

3.1. More emphasis should be placed on the use of social instruments (information, education, dialogue, interactive political decision-making, cooperation etc.) in parallel with legal and financial means in order to foster environmentally conscious behaviour aimed at quality of life and sustainability.

3.2. The Committee calls on the European Commission and the Council to reshape existing support programmes to encourage innovative ways of improving environmental knowledge and promoting environment-friendly behaviour, with the help of the social instruments referred to above.

3.3. Use of the international database should be made possible for the exchange of information on local initiatives relating to the quality of life and sustainability, making use of social instruments (e.g. development of a local Agenda 21 or Habitat Agenda on housing development).

4. Cross-border cooperation

4.1. The Committee of the Regions highlights the importance of more intensive cooperation between regions both within and outside the European Union. It calls on the European Commission to continue to promote the exchange of experience and the search for solutions to cross-border environmental problems, particularly with a view to enlargement of the European Union.

4.2. New Community environmental legal procedures should concentrate on the settlement of cross-border disputes between Member States.

5. Climate protection

5.1. The Committee of the Regions believes that the potential of renewable energy sources and technologies for the more efficient use of energy should be exploited to the full and that, in assessing their promotion in terms of competition policy, government should consider sustainability. Incentives should also be created and access to the relevant programmes facilitated.

5.2. The Committee of the Regions calls on the Council to establish as soon as possible a Community framework for the taxation of non-renewable energy and the internalization of all external costs. Account should be taken here of the impact on low-income groups, upland and rural areas and economic sectors with heavy energy costs.

5.3. The Committee of the Regions calls on the European Commission to consider the extent to which laws governing the organization of the economy, and other instruments, especially support programmes, actually impede the reduction of emissions. The Commission should also work for emission reductions in the context of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Structural Funds. The Committee of the Regions stresses in this context the importance of forest eco-systems as air filters and carbon dioxide sinks.

5.4. The Committee of the Regions considers it right that legal objectives for the reduction of emissions of toxic substances laid down in Community law should, within an appropriate timescale, be adjusted to take account of new knowledge of the toxins in question and technological advances.

5.5. The Committee of the Regions would also like to see greater use made, in relation to climate protection policy, of market incentives (environmental levies, tradable environmental rights and balancing strategies). These should be used to increase the cost effectiveness of environmental policy and thus to defuse the conflict between growth and employment policy.

5.6. The Committee of the Regions considers that the European Union and its Member States should continue to be leading advocates of the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

6. Protection of nature

6.1. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Commission's efforts to maintain biodiversity. It expects the Community to fight for the protection of species and nature in international trade policy.

6.2. The Committee of the Regions calls on the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament to take greater account of the interests of nature protection in the context of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Only sustainable forms of agriculture should be regarded as compatible with environmental protection; this is not generally the case for typically industrial farming methods. In the interests of sustainable agriculture support should be given to environmentally benign farming methods and cycles, and the marketing of products in the region in which they were grown and processed.

6.3. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the European Commission's efforts to promote sustainable land use, such as the labelling of organic products and the work being done on eco-labelling. Specific action plans and programmes should be adapted to the land-use situation so that the needs of the local population, land users and the environment can be taken into account. The Committee also welcomes the European Commission's efforts to promote sustainable land use via the arrangements for common market organizations and Regulation (EEC) N° 2078/92, thereby encouraging greater economic and statutory development.

6.4. The Committee of the Regions calls for environmental impact assessments to be carried out in relation to major projects carried out in the framework of the Structural Funds. Documents submitted, including cost-benefit analyses, should be made public.

6.5. The Committee of the Regions supports the establishment and safeguarding of the Natura 2000 network of special areas of conservation. The Committee calls on the Commission to keep the resulting reporting requirements within reasonable bounds.

6.6. Proper long-term financing of landscape conservation, soil protection and forest conservation and rehabilitation is needed.

7. Soil

7.1. The Committee of the Regions calls for soil use to comply with the principle of sustainability. Thus, in addition to using land economically, care should also be taken of the soil as a natural resource and the carrier of ecological functions. The Committee of the Regions regards sustainable agriculture and forestry as an essential, determining feature of soil use and a guarantee for the maintenance of the man-made landscape.

7.2. The Committee of the Regions therefore calls for measures by the Community, the Member States and the regional and local authorities to be guided by the following objectives:

- more economical and careful use of soil;

- protection of particularly valuable soil from degradation and sealing, and suitable handling of unavoidable excavation residues;

- priority for redevelopment of brownfield sites;

- recycling of unpolluted soil and suitable handling of polluted soil;

- reduction of erosion and prevention of landslides and similar geological phenomena;

- reduction of toxic inputs.

8. Water and waste

8.1. The Committee of the Regions supports the European Commission in its efforts to achieve an efficient water protection policy with a high level of protection. Only in this way can the objective of sustainable development be achieved throughout Europe.

8.2. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the Commission's objectives for future water policy and calls on the Commission to flesh out the precautionary, polluter pays, cooperation and subsidiarity principles, as well as the principle of taking ecological factors into account, in water policy, in order to reduce or prevent significant damage to man's environment.

In this context, the Committee of the Regions points out that measures for the creation of forests or for maintaining the health of existing forests are particularly relevant to water protection.

8.3. The Committee of the Regions considers waste prevention to be the main plank of European policy on waste. It therefore calls on the Community and its Member States to pay close attention to this objective.

The prevention of waste of any kind using state-of-the-art science and technology must become an important criterion for eligibility for Community industrial support programmes, or be given greater weight than at present.

The introduction throughout Europe of market incentives for the prevention of waste damaging to health and the environment, already tried in some regions, is to be encouraged.

8.4. The Committee of the Regions points out that the principle of free movement of goods applies only to a limited extent to waste disposal. Existing regional and local authority powers are to be maintained within the framework of Europe-wide harmonization.

The Committee calls on the Commission to bear in mind the objectives of re-using material and energy contained in waste, and of disposing of toxic substances contained in waste as close as possible to their place of origin.

8.5. The Committee of the Regions therefore calls on the Commission not to impede the efforts of the Member States to establish an environmentally benign structure for waste disposal. The point here is that high environmental standards must be guaranteed and must not be watered down by EU Commission competition policy initiatives. It also asks the Commission to submit as soon as possible proposals spelling out the necessary Community law demarcation between waste disposal and recycling. The Committee of the Regions expects the Commission to recognize the right of the Member States to draw up their own demarcation criteria, until such time as a Europe-wide demarcation is established.

9. Transport

9.1. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the submission by the Commission of a number of basic proposals and discussion papers on the improved integration of environmental and transport policy. The Committee of the Regions expects the European Commission to give priority to solving existing and worsening transport problems with due regard to environmentally sound forms of transport (e.g. rail, local public transport, inland waterways and coastal transport). In this context, the Committee particularly welcomes the efforts to promote combined transport further, thus helping to relieve the pressure on roads.

The Committee of the Regions expects the European Parliament and the Council to adopt as soon as possible the necessary legislation for the further development of rail transport, with priority being assigned to this as an environmentally benign mode of transport.

The Committee of the Regions also considers that agreement is needed at European level on the outline of an approach, covering all modes of transport, to the allocation of transport costs, including external costs, to their source.

In this context, the Committee of the Regions also asks the Commission to examine the impact of various internalization strategies on business, society and the environment. Here adequate consideration should be given to the effects of real-cost transport prices on the shipping and transport industries and on the European Union's place as a centre for business and enterprise.

9.2. The Committee of the Regions calls on the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament to do everything possible to ensure that further significant progress is made in the field of transport in the framework of enlargement of the Community. This would include increasing the maximum rates for road user charges for lorries where applicable, and varying them according to environmental criteria. Progress should also be made on the use of the railway networks.

9.3. The Committee of the Regions calls for measures to limit the fuel consumption, and thus the CO2 emissions, of passenger vehicles, including measures empowering the regions and Member States to provide tax incentives for the early introduction onto the market of ultra low-emission vehicles, having regard to the effects on different income groups and people living in rural and urban areas.

9.4. The Committee of the Regions calls for rapid adoption of the goods vehicle emissions directive; more ambitious target values should be set than those so far laid down under the EURO IV standard (from 2005). At the same time the Member States should be empowered to provide tax incentives from 2000 onwards for vehicles which meet stricter exhaust standards at an early date. This should also apply to buses and delivery vehicles with gaseous fuel engines of the kind used in conurbations.

9.5. The Committee of the Regions sees the rapid introduction of less environmentally damaging petrols and diesel fuels as a decisive measure for the reduction of the environmental damage caused by road traffic. Moreover, clean fuels are a vital precondition for the introduction of new types of engine with lower fuel consumption and toxic emissions.

The Committee of the Regions sees the fuel directive published in late December 1998 as a significant step forward, but considers a further reduction necessary, particularly for sulphur content.

The Committee of the Regions calls on all the Member States to promote the rapid introduction and preferential use of less environmentally damaging fuels by means of effective tax incentives.

Account should be taken here of the impact on low-income groups and rural areas.

9.6. The Committee of the Regions welcomes the directive on future emission standards for passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles published at the end of December 1998 and the decision to allow the Member States to provide tax incentives for the early introduction onto the market from 2000 of passenger vehicles meeting the EURO IV standard.

The Committee of the Regions would like to see all the Member States offering effective tax incentives for the rapid introduction and preferential use of ultra low-emission vehicles.

9.7. In view of the high importance which citizens attach to a quiet living environment both in and outside cities, the Committee of the Regions urges the Commission to submit, as a follow-up to the new vehicle emissions directive, a directive for the further reduction of the noise caused by passenger and commercial vehicles (engine noise at speeds up to 60 km/h and tyre noise at higher speeds).

10. Economy, trade and employment

10.1. The Committee of the Regions points out that environmental improvements contribute to the quality of the business location and thus to the safeguarding of employment.

10.2. Minimum ecological standards must be introduced in trade policy, particularly in the WTO. Within the same framework, the basic legal provisions should be established for integrated and organic farming, particularly in the common market organizations.

10.3. The Committee of the Regions points out however, that with a view to the economics of business location, environmental policy instruments should increasingly be chosen on the basis of their cost effectiveness and efficiency, and their capacity to promote progress on environmental technologies. The Committee believes that an ecologically effective and economically efficient environmental policy is best suited for the integration of environmental policy with economic and employment policy.

11. Radiological protection

11.1. The Committee of the Regions calls for radiological protection issues which are outside the scope of the work of EURATOM, such as uranium extraction waste and its final storage, to be made the subject of more detailed debate in the framework of the EU. In particular, the information available to regional authorities responsible for radiation protection needs to be improved, as does cooperation with these authorities; more support is also needed for joint research and development projects on problems related to natural radioactivity. In the light of previous accessions, these are important questions.

11.2. The Committee of the Regions would like to see common European provisions on the handling of materials contaminated by natural radionuclides (e.g. waste, mud from oil extraction, slag etc.).

D. REASONS

The Committee of the Regions' views on basic environmental policy issues should be consolidated and further developed in the light of the Amsterdam Treaty.

Economic and monetary union will further intensify competition in the internal market. Concrete implementation and further development of Community environmental law will therefore gain in importance in the future.

The Committee of the Regions has a major responsibility here, as it is the regional and local authorities which are in charge of effective application.

Proper economic development of the European Union is possible only in conjunction with an ambitious environmental policy. Environmental protection drives innovation and growth in the whole economy. Modern environmental protection will also safeguard jobs with a future. The export from the EU of environmental protection technology will, in view of the intensive preparation strategy for the candidate Central and Eastern European Countries, take on particular importance in the coming decade.

The Committee of the Regions recognizes that the existence of numerous interdependent factors is making the further development of environmental law increasingly complicated. Additional expert advice is therefore considered necessary.

Classic environmental problems have been replaced by new challenges. The global threats posed by climate change as a result of rising emissions of greenhouse gases, the depletion of the ozone layer and the consumption of resources cannot be visualized to the same extent as the majority of classic environmental problems, such as water pollution or the uncontrolled dumping of waste. A comprehensive approach is therefore needed in all areas of environmental education. The accent should be not exclusively on scientific data, but also on the link between environment protection and economic and social issues.

The European Union has a global responsibility for climate protection and energy and raw material conservation. It must set a good example if the call for sustainable development is to be answered throughout the world.

It will not be possible to achieve sustainable development in the European Union without a change of priorities in the various sectoral policies. This is particularly clear in the transport field.

Soil damage is a major environmental problem. The main causes of this are erosion and a deterioration in the chemical makeup and physical properties of the soil. There is as yet no Community policy on soil protection. The Committee of the Regions is aware that the inter-sectoral nature of any modern soil protection policy makes the development of such a policy at Community level particularly difficult, especially in view of the need for compliance with the subsidiarity principle.

Because of the horizontal nature of the problem, institutional and procedural issues play a special role in the implementation of the principle of sustainable development.

Brussels, 10 March 1999.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER