EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 279/98

EU strategy for third Aarhus Convention meeting

P6_TA(2008)0236

European Parliament resolution of 22 May 2008 on the EU strategy for the third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in Riga, Latvia

(2009/C 279 E/21)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters of 25 June 1998, and to the forthcoming third Meeting of the Parties (MOP-3), to be held in Riga, Latvia, from 11 to 13 June 2008,

— having regard to Oral Question B6-0157/2008 by its Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety,

— having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the Aarhus Convention entered into force on 30 October 2001,

B. whereas the Convention celebrates its tenth anniversary in June 2008,

C. whereas the Aarhus Convention was ratified by the European Community on 17 February 2005 (1) and has been ratified by all but one of its Member States,

D. whereas at present there are 41 parties to the Aarhus Convention,

E. whereas Parliament and the Council have already adopted three legislative instruments to implement the Aarhus Convention (2) and whereas the adoption of a legislative instrument on access to justice in environmental matters is still being blocked by the Council (3),

F. whereas the Aarhus Convention serves to enable public authorities and citizens to assume their individual and collective responsibility to protect and improve the environment for the welfare and well-being of present and future generations and thus to promote sustainable development,

G. whereas the Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers (4) contributes to increasing corporate accountability, reducing pollution and promoting sustainable development,

1. Urges the EU to take a leading, transparent and constructive role in the negotiations and to contribute actively to the long-term strategic plan of the Convention, including the elaboration of a possibly wider scope for the Convention so that sustainable development in all its dimensions is covered by the same principles of transparency, participation and accountability;

2. Believes that MOP-3 will provide a good opportunity both to review the progress which has been achieved so far and to reflect on future challenges; considers that securing effective implementation of the Convention should be the key priority for the future;

3. Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the decisions taken at MOP-3 further implement and develop the Convention, and that synergies are created between the Aarhus Convention and the relevant multilateral environmental agreements;

4. Urges the Commission and the Member States in particular to aim to ensure that: — the long-term strategic plan includes provisions to increase the public's awareness of their rights and responsibilities under the Aarhus Convention; — MOP-3 clarifies the conditions for the entry into force of the amendment on GMOs adopted in 2005 (5) and any future amendments to the Convention, with a view to securing their early implementation; — predictable, stable and adequate financial arrangements are adopted for the Convention; — the compliance mechanism is further improved, on the basis of the experience gained; — work on access to justice continues by ensuring that public authorities at all levels of government are fully aware of their obligations under the Aarhus Convention, and by encouraging public authorities to allocate the human, financial and material resources needed to fulfil their obligations; — parties take the necessary legal and budgetary measures to guarantee that the third pillar of the Convention is fully implemented, effective remedies are provided for access to justice, and access to procedures is fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive; — a Working Group is set up to assess the implementation of the public participation pillar of the Convention, if necessary leading to proposals for further improving the Convention;

5. Urges the Commission and the Member States to resume the legislative work aimed at adopting a legislative instrument which implements Article 9 of the Convention within the European Union, since this last remaining pillar has not been fully transposed into Community law; welcomes the plan by the Commission to organise a conference on access to justice in June 2008 in order to give further impetus to the legislative work within the Community;

6. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to enhance synergies and links with other relevant international organisations and Conventions, in particular the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; considers, however, that the Aarhus Convention is the appropriate forum for deliberating on horizontal principles of public access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters;

7. Calls on the Commission to set the public authorities in the Member States a good example by implementing the Aarhus Convention in a rigorous manner;

8. Urges the countries which have not yet done so to ratify the Aarhus Convention and the Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers, and to encourage other countries outside the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to become parties to the Convention;

9. Believes that Members of the European Parliament who are part of the EC delegation have an essential contribution to make, and therefore expects that they will have access to EU coordination meetings without speaking rights in Riga;

10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the Secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, with the request that it be circulated to all non-EU contracting parties.

(1) Council Decision 2005/370/EC of 17 February 2005 on the conclusion on behalf of the European Community of the convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (OJ L 124, 17.5.2005, p. 1).

(2) Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to environmental information (OJ L 41, 14.2.2003, p. 26); Directive 2003/35/EC providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment (OJ L 156, 25.6.2003, p. 17), Regulation (EC) No 1367/2006 on the application of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters to Community institutions and bodies (OJ L 264, 25.9.2006, p. 13).

(3) Proposal for a directive on access to justice in environmental matters (COM(2003)0624).

(4) Council Decision 2006/61/EC of 2 December 2005 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of the UN-ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (OJ L 32, 4.2.2006, p. 54).

(5) Approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2006/957/EC of 18 December 2006 on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Community, of an amendment to the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters (OJ L 386, 29.12.2006, p. 46).