Voorbereiding Milieuraad: batterijen, gengewassen, Reach, klimaatverandering, Lissabon (en)

The last Environment Council of the year will take place in Brussels on 20 December. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will represent the Commission at this event, which will be his first Council meeting with EU environment ministers after taking office in November. The agenda of the meeting includes possible political agreements on the EU's ratififcation of the Aarhus Convention, and its implementation into EU legislation, as well as the new legislation on batteries. Other agenda highlights are the exchange of views on the new LIFE+ financial instrument and on the future chemicals Regulation REACH. Council conclusions are expected on the Kok Report, the Sustainable Development Strategy, the Future of Climate Change and the Marine Environment. A joint press conference by the President, Dutch Environment Minister Peter Van Geel, and Commissioner Dimas is foreseen during the Council.

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Aarhus Convention package

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The Aarhus Convention is an international agreement that lays down a set of basic rules to promote citizens' involvement in environmental matters and improve enforcement of environmental law. It grants the public access to environmental information, provides for participation in environmental decision-making, and allows the public to seek redress when environmental law is infringed, including breaches of the two previous rights.

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The Commission put forward a package of proposals to implement the Aarhus Convention into EU law in October 2003 (IP/03/1466). The package consisted of a) a proposed Regulation on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters to EC institutions and bodies, b) a proposal for a decision on the conclusion of the Aarhus Convention by the EU, and c) a proposal for a Directive on access to justice in environmental matters.

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The Presidency hopes to achieve a political agreement on a) and b) at the Council, which would allow the EU to proceed with ratification of the Aarhus Convention, preferably in time for the second Conference of Parties to the Convention next May. The proposal on c) is still under discussion within the Council but will not be dealt with at this meeting. This cannot however affect the ratification of the Convention by the EU. Some outstanding issues need to be resolved on the Regulation. These concern among other things how the new rules will fit together with existing Community rules on access to documents, and requirements for reconsideration of administrative acts relating to the environment where requested by NGOs.

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Batteries and accumulators

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The Presidency aims to reach a political agreement on a new batteries directive. The Commission made a proposal in November 2003, which seeks to prevent spent batteries from ending up in landfills and incinerators, and to recover the various metals used in them. It would create an EU-wide framework for national battery collection and recycling schemes (IP/03/1596).

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The Presidency has proposed a compromise to reach an agreement. It would introduce a partial ban on portable (ie consumer) batteries containing cadmium, with an exception for emergency and alarm systems, medical equipment and cordless power tools, and a less ambitious time frame than proposed by the Commission for achieving the collection targets. A number of issues are outstanding, including the use of cadmium, collection targets, treatment, disposal and recycling.

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REACH

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A policy debate is foreseen on the Commission's Proposal for a Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). The aims of the proposed new Regulation are to improve the protection of human health and the environment while maintaining the competitiveness and enhancing the innovative capability of the EU chemicals industry (IP/03/1477). The debate will be centred around the following questions: priority setting of the substances eligible for registration, substances in products and results of the recent impact assessment workshop.

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GM oilseed rape GT73

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A draft decision for the authorisation of the placing on the market of the GM oilseed rape known as GT73 was presented to the regulatory Committee under Directive 2001/18 on the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms into the environment on 16 June 2004. The oilseed rape in question has been genetically modified for tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate, and it would be used for industrial processing and as animal feed. As the regulatory committee did not reach a qualified majority on the proposal, the Commission submitted a proposal for a Council Decision on 26 October. The Council may now act by qualified majority within three months. If the Council does not reach a position, the file comes back to the Commission for final adoption.

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Climate change

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Council conclusions are expected on the EU's medium and long term strategies and targets to fight climate change. The conclusions, among other things, reiterate the long-term objective of an average global temperature raise of 2°C above pre-industrial levels and the corresponding levels and emission pathways in the decades to come. The Commission is currently preparing a Communication on the future of climate change to come out early 2005, which will be submitted to the Spring Council 2005 together with the Council conclusions. A stakeholder conference was held recently on the EU's approach to the international co-operation against climate change after 2012, when the current Kyoto Protocol's targets end (IP/04/1099). The outcome of this conference is an important input in the Commission's preparations of the Communication. Part of the Council's discussion on this point may take place over lunch.

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Kok report on the Lisbon Strategy

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Council conclusions with the reaction of Environment ministers to the recent Kok Report on the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy will be adopted. They build on the "clean, clever, competitiveness" conclusions of the October Environment Council. They highlight the importance of eco-innovations for the EU's competitiveness but also emphasise the importance of environmental sustainability more generally as recognised in the Kok report.

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Sustainable Development Strategy

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Another set of Council conclusions are expected on the forthcoming mid-term review of the Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS). The Council calls upon the Commission to present in time for the Spring Council 2005 a comprehensive stocktaking of the progress on the SDS strategy, an analysis of the key findings of its public consultation and policy options for a revised SDS EU strategy. The Commission is doing just that. The results of the public consultation which took place earlier this autumn will serve as input to the Commission's review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy to feed into the Spring Council.

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Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE +)

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The Council will have a first exchange of views on the Commission's proposal for a new financial instrument to replace the LIFE programme after 2007, known as LIFE+. It proposes a budget of around €2.2 billion over 7 years for policy support in implementing the 6^th Environmental Action Programme (IP/04/1152). The Presidency has drafted a number of questions for this debate covering the issues of scope and objectives, eligibility, and budget. ;

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Preparation of UNEP Governing Council (February 2005)

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An exchange of views, and possible Council conclusions are also foreseen on the input of the Environment Council to the UNEP Governing Council to meet in February 2005. The High-Level Event in Nairobi will discuss two issues (a) international environmental governance issues; (b) UNEP's input into the Millenium development goals (MDG+5). ;

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European Marine Strategy

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Council Conclusions are expected on the forthcoming Marine Strategy, one of the seven Thematic Strategies foreseen under the 6^th Environment Action Programme. The Commission is currently preparing the strategy, which will be adopted during 2005.

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Any other business

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Under any other business the Presidency will inform about a number of Conferences which have taken place during its Presidency:

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• 25 years of Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds
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• High-level meeting on energy and sustainable mobility
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• Environment and Health Action plan
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• Soil strategy conference
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• ENAP (exploring new approaches for the regulation of industrial installations).

The Commission will inform about the seven forthcoming Thematic Strategies, foreseen under the 6^th Environment Action Programme, as well as on the state of play on the preparations of the upcoming Mercury Strategy.