Debate: Chemicals strategy for sustainability
Date: THURSDAY, 9 JULY 2020
Speaker: Maria Spyraki
Country: Romania
Language: EN

Our first priority is to upgrade the level of protection of the consumer and the environment. For this reason, we are asking for the elimination of risk-hazardous substances and substitutions to safer alternatives when it’s feasible. We call on the Commission to take into account the risk posed by endocrine disrupters and the combination effect of different chemicals. Commissioner, we are focusing on a very ambitious target by aiming to set the chemical safety standard for the entire world. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) should support the EU’s international trade policy by defining provisions and fostering regulatory systems built upon EU standards for chemical safety. This would enhance protection beyond the EU borders and extend the level playing field. Chemicals are also the industry of industries. A size—based grouping approach will enable the industry, in complementarity with the ‘one substance, one assessment’ principle. This strategy must also grant sufficient time for the industry’s manufacturers in order to deliver safe and performing products and incentivise the EU industrial production and economy. In this regard, the strategy should secure adequate funding to accelerate the development of innovative and safe alternatives. The strategy should also ensure that unnecessary animal tests are avoided, incentivising the development of smart testing strategies and artificial intelligence methods. However, everything is not dependent on this House. Everything is not dependent on Brussels and on Brussels’ political will. That’s why we also have to increase the level of implementation of the existing EU legislation on chemicals, asking the Member States to fully implement the current legislative framework in order to provide a safe and sustainable environment as well as a competitive European market. In this strategy, we have three critical allies – the three agencies: ECHA, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Firstly we must avoid overlap between these three agencies. Secondly, we have to secure their adequate funding by providing additional resources. I would like to conclude with the need for the chemicals strategy for sustainability to be aligned with the two main aspects of the Green Deal. The first one is green and the second is digital. In this regard, we fully support  ECHA’s initiative to promote the establishment of a fully-connected and interoperable EU chemical safety database platform to facilitate the seamless sharing of data between authorities and to provide public access to researchers, regulators, industry and the citizens at large. Κυρίες και κύριοι συνάδελφοι, Επίτροπε, κυρία Πρόεδρε, η στρατηγική για τα βιώσιμα χημικά μπορεί να οδηγήσει τη γενιά μας και τα παιδιά μας σε ένα μέλλον με λιγότερα προβλήματα. Μπορεί να οδηγήσει τη βιομηχανία σε βιώσιμες λύσεις με πολύ χαμηλότερες επιπτώσεις στο περιβάλλον. Αρκεί τα χημικά προϊόντα που εισάγονται από τρίτες χώρες στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση να έχουν ακριβώς τις ίδιες προδιαγραφές με αυτά που παρασκευάζονται και καταναλώνονται στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση. Η αγορά είναι παγκόσμια και το στοίχημα για τα βιώσιμα χημικά αφορά τον πλανήτη, αφορά τη ζωή μας.