CELEX: 51997PC0471
Language: en
Date: 1997-10-01
Title: 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"

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
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak--- 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
 ---pagebreak--- 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
 ---pagebreak--- 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.
 ---pagebreak--- 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.
 ---pagebreak--- 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.
 ---pagebreak---                                  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)
                                                  (d) to ensure that the Structural and
                                                  Cohesion Funds are used to support
                                                  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 the revised          Council     Directive
                                                   85/337/EEC.
                                              *
 ---pagebreak---                                         Article 3 (3.2.a)
(a) to develop approaches to environmental          (a) the Community will put in place an
impact assessment for plans and programmes,         approach to environmental impact assessment
and to promote the development of                   for plans and programmes, and promote the
methodologies, training and guidance                development of methodologies, training and
material for both assessments of projects and       guidance material for both assessments of
of plans and programmes;                            projects and of plans and programmes;
                                                «
 ---pagebreak---                                                                    ISSN 0254-1475
                                                            COM(97) 471 final
                                              DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                 11 14 17
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-483-EN-C
                                                              ISBN 92-78-24974-2
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