Voorzitter Comité van de Regio's benadrukt rol lokale overheden op bijeenkomst milieuministers EU (en)
As EU environment ministers met for an informal two-day council meeting in Hungary, Committee of the Regions' President Mercedes Bresso i highlighted the vital importance of involving local and regional authorities within sustainable development programmes, proposing to enlarge the scope of the Covenant of Mayors from energy savings to the entire “Resource efficient Europe” agenda, in particular with regard to sustainable water management. She also suggested the use of EU Project Bonds in the sector of eco-infrastructures.
President Mercedes Bresso was invited to take part in the informal environment council convened by the Hungarian Presidency in Gödöllö, near Budapest, at the end of last week. After Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik i presented the main lines of the forthcoming “Blueprint for Safeguarding European Waters”, President Bresso reminded ministers that "in sustainable water management, the best results are achieved when specific planning and governance tools, such as the River Basin Management Plans, are matched with the broader policies such as Europe 2020. But this raises many questions, such as how water policies will be prioritised within the new EU budget post 2014, in particular the CAP and Cohesion Policy”.
Bresso added: “Our mayors want to be engaged in shaping a response which is coordinated at the European level, inclusive at the national level and above all effective at the local level. That is why I propose enlarging the scope of the Covenant of Mayors from a tight focus on energy savings to the entire “Resource efficient Europe” agenda, in particular to sustainable water management. I also believe that we should consider launching EU Project Bonds to invest in eco-infrastructures and eco-innovation.”
The CoR is currently preparing its own position on the future of water management through an outlook opinion, requested by the Hungarian presidency and drafted by Nichi Vendola (IT/PES), president of the Puglia region. The opinion is due to be adopted at the CoR plenary session in June and presented to the environment council that same month.
President Bresso also highlighted the role of local and regional authorities in other key environmental dossiers discussed at the council, including the next steps in the global climate change negotiations and the new roadmap for a competitive low carbon Europe by 2050. Addressing the Ministers and the Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard i, CoR President called for the next round of UN-sponsored talks on tackling climate change, which will take place in Durban at the end of the year, to build on the momentum of Cancun, where the role of local and regional authorities as key partners in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gases was mentioned explicitly for the first time. On the issue of the roadmap, meanwhile, she reminded ministers that many regions and cities already have their own long-term carbon strategies, and that these could be used to enrich the European Commission’s final proposals.
President Bresso also reiterated the CoR’s support for greater ‘carbon proofing’ of EU structural funds - a subject which will be dealt with formally through an outlook opinion from CoR member and mayor of Malmo, Illmar Reepalu (SE/PES), later this year.
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