WRITTEN QUESTION P-0623/96 by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission (6 March 1996)

Subject: Incorporation of environmental considerations in the Commission's work programme

The recently adopted environmental action programme (COM(95) 674/4, of 19 January 1996) stresses the need for integrating environmental considerations into other policies (agriculture, transport, energy, industry and tourism), and examines the possibility of making environmental assessments part of the basis on which decisions are taken. These ideas are not however reflected in the Commission's programme of work for 1996 or the priority areas set out therein.

Was there an environmental assessment of the priorities and their implications when the individual areas in the Commission's work programme were being decided, and if so on what basis?

How does the Commission explain the inconsistency between the revised fifth environmental action programme and the 1996 work programme in respect of the need to incorporate environmental considerations into Community policy?

Does the Commission intend to introduce environmental assessment of, for example, future action programmes and legislation, along the lines of the present impact analyses for small and medium-sized undertakings?

Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (2 May 1996)

Operational measures adopted by the Commission in June 1993 to seek to ensure the integration of environmental considerations into the Commission's actions already include the requirement to assess the impact on the environment of measures to be included in the work programme of the Commission. In adopting its proposal for a decision by the Parliament and the Council on the review of the fifth Community environment action programme 'Towards sustainability ((COM(95) 647 final )) the Commission reiterated its commitment to the integration of environment and sustainable development in new and existing policy and action, and to pursue practical steps to this end, in line with the measures adopted in June 1993.

Measures which are likely to have a significant impact on the environment are identified in the Commission's work programme. The selection of these items takes place within the framework of the preparation of the work programme. The assessments are intended to form an integral part of the strategic decision-making process within the Commission and do not require a separate procedure or separate document. The explanatory memorandum accompanying a particular proposal should describe the impact on the environment and the environmental costs and benefits.

The Commission will shortly publish its 1996 work programme together with a technical annex in the Official Journal and in a special edition of the Bulletin. In the annex the items likely to have a significant impact on the environment will be indicated.