Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 189B(2) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendments to the Council's common position regarding the proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the review of the European Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development - 'Towards sustainability'
Date: 1997-10-01
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, environmental policy, environmental protection, sustainable development

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 01.10.1997 
COM(97) 471  final 

96/0027  (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to Article 189 b (2) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendments to the 
Council's common position regarding the proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ON THE REVIEW 
OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY PROGRAMME OF POLICY AND ACTION IN 
RELATION TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
"TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY" 

AMENDING THE PROPOSAL OF THE COMMISSION 
pursuant to Article 189 a (2) of the EC Treaty 

1. Background 

On  29  February  1996,  the  Commission  presented  to  Parliament  and  Council  a  proposal  for  a 
Decision  of  the  Parliament  and  the  Council  on  the  review  of  the  European  Community 
Programme  of  policy  and  action  in  relation  to  the  environment  and  sustainable  development 
"Towards  Sustainability",  based  on  Article  130  s (3), first subparagraph,  of the  Treaty1  (COM 
(95) 647 final - 96/0027 (COD) of 24 January 1996). 

The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 29-30 May 19962. 

The Committee of the Regions delivered its opinion on  18-19 September  19963. 

The European Parliament delivered its Opinion on first reading on  13 November  19964 

On  4  December  1996,  further  to  the  Parliament's  opinion  the  Commission  forwarded  to  the 
Council an amended proposal5 (COM (96) 648  final  of  4 December  1996). 

On  17 April  1997, the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article  189b of 
the Treaty6. 

On  17 July  1997,  the  European  Parliament  adopted  its  second  reading  decision  to  amend  the 
common position of the Council7. 

2. Objective and content of the proposed Decision 

On  18 March  1992, the Commission adopted the European Community Programme of policy and 
action in relation to the environment  and sustainable development  "Towards Sustainability".  The 
Parliament's  Resolution  of  17 November  1992 welcomed  the  guidelines  set  in the  Programme. 

1  OJ No C 140, 11.5.1996. 

2  OJ No C 212, 22.7.1996. 

3  OJ No C 34, 3.2.1997. 

4  OJ No C 362, 2.12.1996. 

•' OJ No C 28, 29.1.1997. 

6  OJ No C 157, 24.5.1997. 

7  Not yet published 

The Council  and  Representatives  of the Governments  of the  Member  States,  in their  Resolution 
of  1  February  1993, approved the general approach and strategy set out in the Programme. 

The  Programme  is  essentially  targeted  towards  the  year  2000,  but  provision  was  made  in  the 
Programme for  a comprehensive  review of its strategy  to be carried  out  before  the end  of  1995. 
In the  Resolutions  of the  Parliament  and  the  Council  a  review  was  explicitly  requested  for  and 
this  review  was  carried  out  during  1995.  A  Progress  Report  on  the  implementation  of  the 
Programme,  which  was adopted  by  the  Commission  on  10 January  1996  (COM(95)  624  final) 
and  an  updated  State of  the  Environment  Report  presented  by  the  European  Environment 
Agency on  10 November  1995 formed  the factual  elements of the review process. 

The  prime  objective  of  the  proposal  for  a  Decision  is  to  give  a  renewed  political  impulse  at 
Community  level  to  the  implementation  of  the  Fifth  Programme  and  to  overall  progress  on 
sustainable  development.  It  aims  to  refocus  priority  actions  within  the  existing  Programme 
towards  key areas where the Community  should  take the initiative to  overcome the  obstacles  to 
implementation identified  in the Progress Report. 

3. Opinion of the Commission on the amendments of the European  Parliament 

3.1 General remarks 

Of the 28 amendments adopted  by the European  Parliament  in second  reading,  the  Commission 
can  accept  13  amendments  in  whole  or  in  part  or  in  principle.  15  amendments  cannot  be 
supported.  Of  the  13,  4  amendments  were  already  accepted  by  the  Commission  in  the  first 
reading and included in the amended proposal of December  1996. 

3.2 Spécifie remarks 

Amendments accepted 

Amendments  15 and 23 are acceptable in mil and were already included in the amended  proposal 
of December  1996 (COM (96) 648 final). Amendments 32. 33 and  35 are also acceptable  in full 
since they reintroduce the original Commission text. 

In relation  to  the amendments  dealing with  the  integration  of  environmental  considerations  into 
other  policies,  the  Commission  can  accept  reformulations  of  part  aa)  of  amendment  7  (on 
agriculture)  and  part  ca)  of  amendment  14 (on  tourism).  The  rest  of  amendment  7 cannot  be 
accepted  because  it  is  weaker  than  the  Commission  proposal.  The  rest  of  the  amendment  14 
cannot  be accepted  since it proposes an inclusion  of the Polluter Pays Principle, which already is 

in the  Treaty,  and  an  inclusion  of  an  "User  of  natural  resources  pays  principle"  which  is  not 
known. 

The  Commission  accepts  a  reference  to  liability  as  mentioned  in  amendment  12  in  the  draft 
Decision,  but  in view  of the White Paper  it  is preparing  on this  subject,  it  considers  it wise  to 
maintain the general reference included in Article 3 of its original proposal. 

It  can  largely  accept  amendment  13  on  persistent  organic  pollutants  and  included  this  in  its 
amended proposal of December  1996 in Article 11.7. 

In relation to broadening the range of instruments, the Commission can accept a reformulation  of 
amendment  17.  The  Commission  presented  a  proposal  on  strategic  environmental  impact 
assesment in December  1996. 

Concerning amendment 25. the Commission included in its amended proposal of December  1996 
a  reference  to  technical,  administrative  and financial support  to  associated  countries  of  Central 
and Eastern Europe applying for accession. 

As regards  amendments  34  and  37  concerning  the  particular  environment  themes  (Article  11), 
the  Commission  can  accept  those  amendments  as  far  as  they  reintroduce  parts  of  the  original 
proposal  by  the  Commission.  It  cannot  accept  other  elements  of  these  amendments  for 
institutional  reasons. However,  some  of the  suggestions  are likely to  form  part  of future  Work 
Programmes of the Commission. 

Amendments  not accepted 

The Commission cannot agree with amendment  1  to make a specific reference to Article  130 r of 
the Treaty, since it gives no added value. 

The  Commission  cannot  agree to  include  amendment  2  (and  related  to  one part  of  amendment 
37) to include an obligation to reach the highest level of environmental protection in the Union by 
1 January  1999. This issue has no direct relationship with the proposal for the review of the Fifth 
Programme. The Commission has undertaken on the basis of the Joint Declaration  on  standards 
for  the  protection  of  the  environment,  health  and  product  safety,  to  review  the  "acquis 
communautaire"  and where necessary to  put  proposals  forward,  on decisions which need to  be 
taken  before  the  end  of  the  transitional  period  provided  for  in  the  Accession  Treaties,  i.e.  1 
January 1999. 

Amendment  3 includes detailed  references  to the findings  of the European  Environment  Agency 
in  its  updated  State  of  the  Environment  Report.  The  Commission  considers  that  a  simple 
reference to the Agency's Report as in the original Commission proposal  suffices. 

In relation to amendments 4. 6.  16. 21 and  36 and  certain  parts of  amendments  17 and  37 where 
deadlines  and  targets  are  suggested,  given  the  structure  oî  the  draft  Decision,  the  adoption  of 
such deadlines or targets would  specify  final  dates for the Community to decide on the measures. 
This would create procedural  difficulties. 

In amendment  5 it is suggested  to replace the wording  "priorities are" by "the Community  shall". 
The  Commission  does  not  consider  this  amendment  to  be  appropriate.  The  draft  Decision 
indicates  the priority  areas with  a broad  indication  of the  mix  of  measures  which  would  help  to 
achieve  the  objectives  of  the  Programme.  The  phrase  "the  Community  shall"  would  be  more 
legally  binding  given  it  would  prescribe  exactly  the  measures  indicated,  without  being  in  a 
position to develop other measures. 

In many amendments throughout  the text  (for  example numbers 6.  7.  12.  16.  17.  20. 21. 22.. 24. 
36  and  certain  parts  of  amendments  34  and  37).  the  Commission  is  explicitly  or  implicitly 
required  to  put  forward  proposals  before  the  programme  expires  or  to  take  other  actions.  In 
some cases the detailed  scope and  content  of the measure  is already  indicated.  The  Commission 
cannot  accept  these  amendments  because  they  either  affect  the  right  of  initiative  of  the 
Commission as described  in the Treaty or they limit the scope of the Commission  proposal  or are 
too  detailed  or  specific  compared  to  the  scope  of the  draft  Decision.  Furthermore,  this Decision 
cannot  become a detailed work  programme  for  the Commission.  Seme of the  suggested  actions 
may however form part of Commission Work Programmes of future years. 

Amendment  26 limits the issue of trade and environment  to the WTO context  only.  Furthermore, 
the  Community  cannot  ensure that  WTO  rules take  full  account  of  the  need  to  maintain  a high 
level of environmental  protection. 

Amendment  27 on Green  GNP  cannot  be  accepted.  The Fifth  Programme  does  not  provide  for 
the development  of a Green  GNP in the EU by  1999.  It  indicates that  economic  indicators  such 
as GNP need modification  and adaptation at the initiative of the Member States and supported by 
the  EC.  The  1994  Communication  on  indicators  and  environmental  accounting  indicated  that 
subsequent  research  has  shown  that  the  development  of  a  "Green  GNP"  is  more  difficult  than 
originally  assumed.  As  a  result,  the  Commission  together  with  other  international  bodies  and 
Member States is now developing satellite accounts as a first step in this direction. 

As regards amendments  36 and 40 and certain parts of amendment  34 concerning  the particular 
environment  themes  (Article  11),  the  Commission  cannot  accept  these  amendments  for 
institutional  reasons.  However,  some  of  the  suggestions  are  likely to  form  part  of  future  Work 
Programmes of the Commission. 

4. Amended  proposal 

Following the second reading of the draft  Decision proposal adopted by the European Parliament 
on  17  July  1997,  the  Commission  herewith  modifies  its  proposal  by  including  in  part  3 
amendments.  4 other  amendments were  already  included  in the amended  proposal  of  December 
1996.  The  remainder  of  the  amendments  acceptable  to  the  Commission  do  not  require 
modifications  to the text  of the Commission  proposal.  Compared  to the common  position  of the 
Council, they reintroduce the text of the original Commission proposal. 

Amended  Proposal for a 

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  AND COUNCIL DECISION 
on the review of the European Community Programme of policy and action 
in relation to the environment and sustainable development 
"Towards Sustainability" 

COMMON POSITION 

AMENDED  PROPOSAL 

Article 2 (2. T.f) (new) 

(f)  to  start  the  groundwork  for  a  phased 
reform  of the  common  agriculture  policy,  to 
be  implemented  at  the  latest  at  the  time  of 
accession  of  new  member  states. The  reform 
should  ensure  that  aid  will  in  future  be  tied 
primarily to sustainable methods of farming. 

Article 2 (2.5.d) (new) 

that 

to  ensure 

the  Structural  and 
(d) 
support 
to 
Cohesion  Funds  are  used 
sustainable forms  of tourism  and the  projects 
financed  by these  funds  are made the  subject 
of  an  environmental  impact  assessment  in 
accordance  with  the  requirements  of  the 
Structural  and  Cohesion  Funds  Regulations 
and 
revised  Council  Directive 
85/337/EEC. 

the 

* 

Article 3 (3.2.a) 

to  promote 

(a)  to  develop  approaches  to  environmental 
impact assessment for  plans and programmes, 
the  development  of 
and 
methodologies, 
guidance 
training 
material  for  both  assessments  of projects  and 
of plans and programmes; 

and 

(a)  the  Community  will  put  in  place  an 
approach to environmental  impact  assessment 
for  plans  and  programmes,  and  promote  the 
development  of  methodologies,  training  and 
guidance  material  for  both  assessments  of 
projects  and  of  plans  and  programmes; 

« 

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COM(97) 471  final 

DOCUMENTS 

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Catalogue number  : CB-CO-97-483-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-24974-2 

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