Voorbereiding Milieuraad, 18 december 2006 (en)

The second and last formal Environment Council under the Finnish presidency will take place on 18 December in Brussels. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas i will represent the Commission i at the meeting. The Council is expected to approve the compromise agreement struck with the European Parliament i on the REACH reform of chemicals legislation. Political agreement is also likely on a new framework directive to protect the marine environment. The Council will vote on Commission proposals that would require Austria to drop its national bans on two types of genetically modified maize. Council will adopt conclusions on climate change in the light of last month's UN conference in Nairobi, and will hold a public exchange of views on the way forward in tackling this global challenge. Conclusions responding to the Commission's Strategy and Action Plan for conserving biodiversity are also due for adoption. Over lunch ministers will prepare the 2007 meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) with the current CSD chairman, His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar's second deputy prime minister and minister of energy and industry. Finnish Environment Minister Jan-Erik Enestam and Commissioner Dimas will give a joint press conference after lunch.

The Council is due to approve the compromise agreed with the European Parliament on the new Regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restrictions of chemicals (REACH). The compromise package is a marked improvement of the present situation regarding health and environment. At the same time, it safeguards the competitiveness of the European industry, paying particular attention to the situation of SMEs, and encourages innovation. The Regulation was initially proposed by the Commission in October 2003. It will replace 40 pieces of existing EU legislation and create a single system for all chemicals. It switches the burden of proof on the safe use of chemical substances produced or imported into the EU from the public authorities to industry (see IP/06/1799)

The Presidency expects the Council to reach political agreement on the framework directive for EU action on marine environment policy. This follows the Council's agreement on a general approach to the issue at its last meeting in October. The discussions will be televised. The Council's position endorses a number of elements of the Commission's proposal from October 2005, which constitutes the main component of the Thematic Strategy on the protection and conservation of the marine environment (see IP/05/1335).

The marine strategy is to become the environmental pillar of the future EU Maritime Policy. The strategy and directive aim to ensure that all EU marine waters achieve 'good environmental status' - meaning they are environmentally healthy - by 2021. The political agreement, however, is not expected to be as ambitious as the Commission's initial proposal, especially regarding the binding nature of the good environmental status objective.

The Council will adopt conclusions on climate change and also hold a public exchange of views. The conclusions will welcome the progress made at last month's UN ministerial conference in Nairobi but emphasise the need to step up the political momentum of international negotiations on future action to combat climate change. To help prepare the EU's contribution to accelerating this process, ministers will hold a public exchange of views on the way forward. This will be based on three questions prepared by the Presidency to guide the discussion. The questions concern what EU leadership should mean; what the EU should say now about its role in a future agreement; and what elements the EU should focus on in developing options for a post-2012 arrangement

Ministers will hold a public debate and adopt conclusions on the Commission's Communication and associated Action Plan on halting the loss of biodiversity in the EU by 2010. The conclusions are expected to call for the Action Plan to be implemented urgently. EU leaders committed to the 2010 target in 2001 and while some progress has been made, this has so far been insufficient. Halting the loss of biodiversity in the EU by 2010 requires accelerated implementation of policies at both EU and Member State level, along the lines indicated by the Communication.

The Council is due to vote on two draft Decisions proposed by the Commission to repeal Austria's national prohibitions (safeguard clauses) on the genetically modified maize varieties T25 and MON810, which have been in place since 1999 and 2000. The June 2005 Environment Council asked the Commission to re-examine similar proposals after ministers had indicated their opposition by qualified majority. The Commission has consequently re-consulted the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). In its opinion of 29 March 2006, EFSA stated that there is no reason to believe that the continued marketing of the two GMOs in question is likely to cause any adverse effects for human and animal health or the environment under the conditions of their respective consents. Furthermore, EFSA advised last month that a study about MON810 and T25 submitted by Austria in October does not comprise new data that would merit a change in the risk assessment approach.

Over lunch there will be an exchange of views with Minister Al-Attiyah ahead of the 15 th meeting of the CSD (CSD15), to be held in New York from 30 April to 11 May 2007. CSD15 is mandated to give policy recommendations on how to accelerate the implementation of commitments made at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development regarding energy, climate change, air pollution and industrial development. The EU is keen for ambitious results from CSD15, not least to help ensure the Millennium Development Goals are reached.

The Presidency will give progress reports on discussions held at official level on the revision of the waste framework directive, on the proposed directive on priority substances in water (see IP/06/1007) and on the proposal for a framework directive on pesticides (see IP/06/981). It will also report on the results of the EU-Ukraine summit (27 October, Helsinki).