21-22 October Environment Informal

Date: 26/10/1995

EU environment ministers have called for a unified policy to improve the quality and quantity of water available to consumers. In a concluding statement following their meeting in Seville, ministers said that an EU framework directive was the best way to bring about a unified policy. Future water management should be based on the idea of sustainable development, the statement stressed. Emission values and quality objectives “should not be understood as a right to pollute”. Spanish Environment Minister José Borrell claimed that his colleagues had been receptive to the idea of using cohesion funds to finance construction of water-related infrastructure, such as purification plants.

DISCUSSIONS were also held on the issue of Central and Eastern European (CEE) power stations. Ministers agreed in principle to supply Bulgaria with conventionally-generated electricity to replace power which is now produced by nuclear stations. The Spanish presidency made it clear that there was no question of adopting a general policy of subsidising CEE countries as an incentive for them to close their outdated and dangerous power plants.