Natura 2000 and the future of the Covenant of Mayors to be focus of next ENVE Commission meeting
On Monday (28.09) the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will gather members from the ENVE commission. Members will have a roundtable discussion and adoption of the draft own-initiative opinion on "Contribution to the fitness check on the EU Birds and Habitats Directives" with Rapporteur Roby Biwer (LU/PES) and several guest speakers. Members will also discuss and adopt the draft own-initiative opinion on "The future of the Covenant of Mayors" by Ms Kata Tüttő (HU/PES). The next day, the ENVE Commission will hold a conference on "Closing the loop in the Circular Economy: contributions and expectations from Europe's local and regional authorities".
In the opinion prepared by Kata Tutto (Councillor in Budapest, Hungary), the rapporteur emphasizes the role of the Covenant of Mayors in energy efficiency and renewable energy targets. This European movement has achieved unprecedented success both in mobilising local and regional authorities on climate and energy issues and in establishing multilevel governance structures. In this draft opinion, the CoR states its determination to encourage membership to the Covenant notably through its members and their communication channels. The CoR fully supports the globalisation of the Covenant and declares itself ready to help spread this model by means of partnerships with cities and regions in third countries.
The CoR draft also recommends the extension and update of the current minimum target for GHG reduction: in the medium term, in coherence with the CoR past recommendations, to fix it at 50% by 2030 as compared to 1990 levels. Tthe CoR insists that in addition to the need for strong institutional support from the EU institutions, legal, financial and methodological sound environment, the Covenant needs to be promoted actively, espcially among small- and medium sized towns.
Roby Biwer (Member of Bettembourg Municipal Council, Luxembourg) in his opinion expresses his concern that the great majority of species and habitat types still have an unfavourable conservation status and a significant proportion may even experience further deterioration. However their status has improved markedly in Natura 2000 i areas where the Nature Directives have been implemented. The rapporteur brings forward this and additional arguments to call on the European Commission to not to open up the Nature Directives for review, but to use the fitness check to take actions to improve their implementation by the Member States and regional and local authorities [cbra1] .
The conference on "Closing the loop in the Circular Economy: contributions and expectations from Europe's local and regional authorities" will take place on 29 September (9am -1pm) at the European Committee of the Regions, rue Belliard 101 (room JDE 52). The representatives of regions and cities will look at how local and regional authorities, as key players in a circular economy, can contribute to the preparations of European Commission’s new circular economy roadmap and proposal amending waste legislation.
Registration for the conference is still available until Friday (25.09) by sending an e-mail to enve@cor.europa.eu
Contact:
Julia Rokicka
tel. +32 2 282 24 47
mobile: +32 489 212 044