30.7.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 218/53

—

underlines that this new EAP must ensure that the environmental choices are sufficiently clear and predictable, in particular for local and regional administrations;

—

stresses that it is necessary to overcome certain shortcomings, reduce the differences between Member States and push for full compliance with environmental legislation, at all levels of government, with a view to improving the environment and public health, ensuring a level playing field and regulatory certainty, and preventing market distortions; recommends in the Opinion numerous concrete actions to be included in the 7th EAP in this regard;

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highlights the need for good impact assessments when revising or developing new EU environmental legislation and urges the European Commission to take into account of the practical experience of Member States in a demonstrable and verifiable way;

—

calls for aligning EU sectoral environmental legislative policies (EU limit values) with the EU emissions policy (EU measures at source), adopting a holistic approach that enables a coordination between these measures, their level of ambition and calendars;

—

welcomes the inclusion of a ‘priority objective’ on the sustainability of cities among the objectives of the 7th EAP and calls for minimum sustainability criteria to be fulfilled by a majority of cities in the EU; with the indicators to be developed in close cooperation with local authorities and with environmental and statistical authorities;

—

calls for the programme to be more ambitious at local level, extending initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors to other areas of the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, and further developing the European Green Capital Award.

Rapporteur

José Macário CORREIA (PT/EPP), Mayor of Faro

Reference document

Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2020 — Living well, within the limits of our planet —

COM(2012) 710 final

1.

Recalls that the six environment action programmes to date have been important in terms of highlighting the growing prominence of European environment policy and trying to ensure its coherence as an integral part of European integration, but have failed to solve many of Europe's environmental problems because of insufficient political will to implement measures.

2.

The Sixth Environment Action Programme, sub-titled ‘Environment 2010: our future, our choice’, which expired on 22 July 2012, was drawn up in 2001 as the environmental dimension of the EU's sustainable development strategy, with the Lisbon Strategy as the economic dimension.

3.

It set out the European Union's priorities to 2012, emphasising four areas for action: climate change, nature and biodiversity, environment and health, and the sustainable management of natural resources and waste. However, the European Commission has allowed the strategy for sustainable development to be forgotten.

4.

The Europe 2020 strategy is now seen as the new political and strategic tool, and the environmental policy should be coordinated within the framework of this flagship initiative of the strategy, entitled ‘A resource-efficient Europe’, considering it not as a sub domain of the Europe 2020 strategy, but as an overall strategic goal autonomously around the sustainable development of the European Union by 2050.

5.

Stresses that the 7th EAP should be adopted as soon as possible to ensure the coherence of the EU's environmental policy and guide the future development in this key policy area; underlines that this new EAP must ensure that the environmental choices are sufficiently clear and predictable, in particular for local and regional administrations (1).

6.

Integrating the substantive outcome of UNCSD 2012 into action at local, regional, national, European, international and global level is also a priority.

7.

while positive progress has been made to date, in particular significant reductions in harmful emissions to air and water, better and more efficient management of waste and reductions in dangerous chemical products, there are objectives in terms of air, the urban environment, biodiversity, eco-system functioning and sustainable use of natural resources which have yet to be met;

8.

despite the consolidation of environmental legislation over the last decade, the Member States and the Commission have not always acted in accordance with the programme, and it is necessary to overcome certain shortcomings, reduce the differences between Member States and push for full compliance with environmental legislation, at all levels of government, in relation to control of air pollution, water treatment, wastewater, waste and nature conservation, with a view to improving the environment and public health, ensuring a level playing field and regulatory certainty and preventing market distortions;

9.

at the end of the 6th Environment Action Programme, several fields of environmental policy have not yet been sufficiently addressed, in particular:

10.

to state in the new programme, in a clear and unambivalent manner, the environmental challenges the EU is faced with, including accelerating climate change, deterioration of our ecosystem, untenable disruption of the nitrogen cycle, and the increasing overuse of natural resources;

11.

to reflect the Rio+20 Declaration as adopted by the UNCSD on 22 June 2012, with its emphasis on an inclusive green economy, as well as the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and the CoR contribution to the Rio Summit (2);

12.

to set concrete targets. The CoR welcomes the ambition shown in the 7th EAP, but wonders whether these ambitions are realistic and how they will be achieved. There is reference to existing policy documents and roadmaps, but these documents often lack practical details on implementation, such as timeframes and intermediate objectives. The CoR believes that new ambitions must be feasible: setting unrealistic ambitions harms the credibility of EU environment policy. It must therefore be clear, when new EU environmental targets are set, that these targets are achievable and, where necessary, that there is a parallel EU source-based policy in the relevant sectors. The proposals should have a clear timeframe (with a final objective, intermediate objectives and interim evaluations) linked to appropriate actions. The CoR therefore calls for concrete, and wherever possible, quantifiable targets to be set for 2020 as well as setting out a clear, ambitious vision and intermediary targets for the environment up to 2050, aimed at providing a high quality of life and well-being for all within safe environmental limits;

13.

it is important to take account of experience from the Member States when revising or developing new EU legislation. To this end, there needs to be better coordination between the stages in producing EU law. There are five stages in producing EU law: preparation, decision-making, implementation in national legislation, application by (national) courts, and feedback on experiences in the Member States. The links from the first stage to subsequent ones run smoothly, but it is not clear how experience in the Member States and local and regional authorities (stage five) feeds back into the development of new EU law (stage one). The CoR urges the Commission to take account of this experience in a demonstrable and verifiable way when drafting new proposals;

14.

for the European Commission initially to examine the existing legislation and, on this basis, to carry out an impact assessment. The data from the impact assessments should be taken into account in a demonstrable and verifiable way when revising existing legislation or drafting new proposals. The CoR highlights the need for good impact assessments, as they make it clear, at an early stage in the decision-making process, that:

15.

to change the way the Commission publishes its proposals. When the sixth EAP was implemented, the impact assessments, thematic strategies and legislative proposals were published simultaneously. To take account of the aforementioned issues, the CoR would suggest the following procedure and timeframe:

16.

to ensure that the Europe 2020 strategy continues to cover certain priority sectors which were hitherto covered by the sustainable development strategy, such as distribution justice and intergenerational justice;

17.

to ensure that the objectives of 7th EAP are adequately reflected in the post-2013 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Europe 2020 strategy, bearing in mind that the main decisions with major environmental impacts in other areas may be taken before the adoption of the 7th EAP. The funding of environmental objectives, in synergy with the LIFE programme, and the full integration of environmental protection, must be a significant part of the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), cohesion policy and Horizon 2020;

18.

to provide the appropriate framework for guaranteeing sufficient funding, in particular for innovation, research and development, through the mobilisation of market instruments and payments for ecosystem services;

to guarantee, in a clear and appropriate fashion, support for the role of local and regional authorities in implementing legislation, in order to secure commitment to improving results in relation to the environment and human health, the policy on chemicals and in particular the objectives set in the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, the Low-Carbon Roadmap and the Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, through the inclusion of energy efficiency targets and indicators in the Annual Growth Survey and in Member States' national reform programmes.

19.

Stresses that the priorities of the 7th Environment Action Programme should be based on three fundamental axes:

Welcomes therefore the nine objectives outlined in the Commission proposal.

20.

With regard to safeguarding Europe's natural capital, there should be better implementation of measures and actions relating to the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, protecting and enhancing forests, eliminating emissions from urban and industrial wastewater, fertiliser use and air emissions responsible for eutrophication. Similarly, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive should be fully implemented.

21.

In the implementation of these measures, more effective environmental inspections and surveillance must be carried out. The RMCEI — the recommendation for minimum criteria for environmental inspections in the Member States 2001/331/EC — is therefore crucial for all Member States, in order to provide structured and consistent guidance for the environmental inspection work of inspectors in the Member States.

22.

To strengthen the existing legal framework in order to enable the EU to guarantee that environmental inspections and surveillance systems at local and regional level are fully consistent, coherent and effective, with a view to ensuring the uniform application of EU environmental law and fair conditions of competition for companies within the internal market.

23.

To support enhanced complaint-handling and mediation mechanisms at national, regional and local levels.

24.

To support the establishment of information systems at national level to disseminate information on the actual implementation of EU environment law.

25.

To conclude tripartite partnership implementation agreements (PIAs) between the European Commission, the Member States and local and regional authorities to improve the implementation of specific environmental legislation and resolve specific or cross-border problems regarding the management of environmental problems.

26.

To improve the scientific evidence base for environment policy — especially regarding the functional understanding of ecosystems (energy, water and material flows and related sustainable soil, water and local climate functions) —, including its accessibility, by simplifying, streamlining and modernising the collection, management and sharing of environmental data and information, and to develop instruments to anticipate, evaluate and manage emerging environmental risk and fill existing knowledge gaps as quickly as possible. At the same time, there should be special support in this field for researchers (in the form of scholarships), and where possible they should be involved as experts in solving environmental problems at local and regional level. In doing this, any increase in red tape arising from additional inspection and surveillance rules should be avoided; the aim should be, rather, to set targeted priorities and exploit synergies with existing surveillance requirements.

27.

With regard to the efficient use of resources and low carbon emissions, the challenge includes fully implementing the EU Climate and Energy Package by 2020, as well as EU waste legislation, ensuring that it is properly transposed and implemented in all Member States, setting up teams to transpose environmental law at regional and local level.

28.

In parallel, internal market barriers facing recycling activities must be removed and the overall environmental impact of production and consumption must be reduced, promoting products with a low environmental impact and providing accurate scientifically-based information and guidelines for consumers regarding products.

29.

Furthermore, in terms of companies, their increasing responsibility in relation to environmental problems, voluntary environmental audits, eco-labels attesting to the environment-friendliness of products and the expansion of eco-business can in themselves help to create the environmental quality that needs to be fostered.

30.

Greener, more efficient technologies, improved productivity and new employment opportunities will support growth and jobs.

31.

A coherent and integrated policy framework at local and regional level in support of resource efficiency and greener products will help SMEs striving to become more resource efficient, reducing their production costs and facilitating their access to new markets.

32.

In terms of funding, it is important to ensure that environment and climate objectives are supported by adequate finance, by reflecting them in partnership contracts and ensuring that at least 20 % of the 2014-2020 EU budget is allocated for that purpose. In particular, the financing of especially cost-intensive environmental measures to be carried out in the period up to 2020 — e.g. the proposed improvement in degraded ecosystems using green infrastructure networks — must be ensured; the EU's biodiversity strategy makes provision for this as an essential component of the 7th Environmental Action Programme.

33.

In parallel, efforts should be made to increase the allocation of EU funding for environmental action by at least 25 %, using a system for reporting and tracking environment-related expenditure, in order to ensure, inter alia, the timely financing of especially cost-intensive environmental measures for the improvement of degraded ecosystems to be carried out in the period up to 2020.

34.

To progressively phase out environmentally-harmful subsidies and increasingly use market-based instruments, including taxation and penalties for those causing environmental damage.

35.

To promote and increase private sector funding for environment and climate-related expenditure, in particular by facilitating access to innovative financial instruments.

36.

The CoR calls for aligning EU sectoral environmental legislative policies (EU limit values) with the EU emissions policy (EU measures at source), adopting a holistic approach that enables a coordination between these measures and the ambitions and calendars of environmental sectoral directives. It urges the Commission to calculate the duration of the renewal cycle of the measures at source and evaluate the deadline for achieving the limit values under real conditions, in order to achieve a significant reduction in emissions across Europe. To this end, the level of ambition of environmental sectoral directives (limit values) and deadlines for implementation must be equivalent to the level of ambition and timetables for implementation of the EU measures at source.

37.

With regard to the need to ensure the health and wellbeing of EU citizens, it is important to stress the need to update the EU policy on air quality and to align it with the latest scientific knowledge, identifying cost-effective measures to combat air pollution at source and strengthening efforts to reach full compliance with EU air quality legislation, more particularly regarding fine particles in the air.

38.

In relation to noise, there is an urgent need to identify cost-effective measures to reduce noise pollution at source.

39.

The CoR calls for ambitious measures to tackle key sources of environmental pollution, in particular transport and mobility. The 7th EAP refers in this connection to the White Paper Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area — towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system (COM(2011) 144 final). The CoR welcomes the ambitious nature of this White Paper but, in order to achieve these ambitions, calls for a European action plan to be drawn up, including intermediate targets, specific measures (e.g. EU source-based measures) and scheduled evaluations (3).

40.

With regard to water, efforts should be stepped up to implement the Drinking Water Directive, in particular for small suppliers in each Member State, and similar efforts should be made in relation to the Bathing Water Directive with the aim of achieving compliance levels over 95 % by 2020.

41.

Systematic ex ante assessments must be carried out of the socio-economic, environmental and territorial impacts at EU, Member State and local and regional level.

42.

The CoR welcomes the inclusion of a ‘priority objective’ on the sustainability of cities among the objectives of the 7th EAP and calls for minimum sustainability criteria to be fulfilled by a majority of cities in the EU.

43.

There should be greater cooperation in relation to international agreements, supporting international and regional processes aimed at making the world economy an inclusive green economy, fostering an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future for our planet and for current and future generations.

44.

At local level, the programme should be more ambitious, extending initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors to other areas of the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe, such as biodiversity and in particular soil use as recommended in the recent CoR opinion on this matter (CdR 1121/2012 fin). Equally the management of waste and water resources and air pollution should be looked at, since this would facilitate implementation of EU environmental policy through an innovative method of multilevel governance, which promotes the proactive involvement of local and regional authorities in the application of EU legislation.

45.

The same applies to the establishment of the European Green Capital Award, as an important means of showcasing cities that are exemplars and innovators in implementation of EU environmental law.

46.

The 7th EAP should therefore be based on the fundamental principles of environmental law — the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle, the preventive principle and the rectification at source principle — with a view to implementing measures, actions and targets in accordance with the principles of smart regulation and within a framework of balanced and sustainable environmental policies. Too many measures still involve corrections made at the end of the process or the end of the chain, whereas priority should be given to adapting or even rethinking these processes with a view to significantly reducing their environmental impact at each stage. Innovative initiatives in the ‘circular economy’, closing the materials cycle, and life-cycle benchmarking should be encouraged, and to this end targeted use made of our functional understanding, which in some cases still needs to be developed, of ecosystems and energy, water and material cycles, with their positive effects on sustainable soil, water and local climate trends, with a view to achieving more systemic reductions in the environmental impact of human activities.

47.

European citizens are increasingly aware of the role played by the environment in their lives. As the level closest to local communities, local and regional authorities are crucial as interfaces for training and mobilisation.

48.

The principles of subsidiarity and proportionality are applied in the drawing up and implementation of environmental legislation in accordance with Article 192 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which provides for sharing of powers between the EU, the Member States and national, regional and local authorities on issues of environment policy.

49.

Taking account of the specific measures adopted by the Commission, the objectives which will represent local and regional challenges must be identified.

50.

Local Agenda 21 can and must be a tool for participatory democracy at local and regional level, with a view to pursuing environment policy objectives, disseminating, with the help of the internet, information on the application at local level of the 7th EAP and the available judicial remedies.

51.

The principle of multilevel governance in relation to the environment should be recognised. The CoR does not believe that environmental problems can be solved, or EU policy implemented, by a single level of government. EU environment policy can no longer be developed purely at EU level, with national and sub-national authorities expected to implement legislation passed by the EU: it must be developed via coordination between the different levels of government. A multilevel approach is needed, in which each level of government (European, national, regional and local) takes responsibility in coordination with the other authorities and adopts those measures that can and must be adopted at that level in order to avoid duplication of competences.

52.

In the CoR's view, the multilevel approach needs to be strengthened during the policy development phase. Improving Europe's environment will necessitate a realistic level of ambition, requiring coordination between legislation and implementation. To this end, it is vital to pay attention, during the policy development phase, to the possible financial, policy or legal impact for subnational authorities and to the practicability and feasibility of EU regulations.

53.

The CoR recommends also strengthening the multilevel approach in the implementation phase. The implementation of environmental legislation is not just a question of legal implementation (transposition into national law). This means that EU environmental legislation must be accompanied by European and national implementation plans (with guides, best practices and source-based measures). In this connection, the CoR advocates a multilevel approach and points to cross-government teams in Member States in which experts from the various levels of government work together to draft national implementation plans.

54.

It is therefore crucial that the 7th EAP supports the role of local and regional authorities in implementing the legislation, by means of the following actions:

55.

The strategy of the 7th EAP will depend partly on specific policy instruments chosen with a view to achieving the objectives set, which will not be determined until impact assessments have been carried out. That will have an effect on cost-effectiveness and specific social and economic impacts, as well as on the role of national, regional and local authorities in implementing policies and legislation agreed at European level. The measures set out in the previous point must not increase spending pressures on local and regional authorities. The Committee believes that responsibility for the cost of the measures set out in the previous point should primarily lie with the EU or national governments. It is important to ensure that economic progress is sustainable, and that our ecosystems, which support growth and safeguard our citizens' health, remain resilient.