12 March Environment Council

Date: 18/03/1999

EU ENVIRONMENT ministers reached agreement on only one issue, rejecting amendments demanded by the European Parliament to strengthen a proposed law designed to clean up Europe's lakes and rivers. The proposed water framework directive will now go back to the Parliament for a second reading.

German Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin succeeded in persuading diplomats to delay a vote on proposed EU-wide car recycling rules for three months. The proposed legislation would oblige national governments to ensure that up to 90&percent; of cars destined for the scrapheap in the Union were recycled.

Ministers expressed concern at the European Commission's lack of progress in getting Korean and Japanese carmakers to agree to a voluntary deal to cut carbon dioxide emissions, similar to that agreed by European carmakers group ACEA last year. Ministers called on the Commission to consider the possibility of drawing up binding legislative proposals if it does not conclude an agreement by the end of May. The Commission said the Japanese had shown far greater willingness to strike a deal than the Koreans, who have said it would be “difficult” to match ACEA's commitment.

NO PROGRESS was made in talks on possible restrictions on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions 'credits' that member states can buy from other countries to meet the reduction targets which were agreed at the 1997 Kyoto climate change conference. Germany, supported by Austria and Denmark, has been pushing for ministers to set a 50&percent; ceiling on trading, arguing that member states should meet the bulk of their commitments at home rather than through buying the right to pollute from other countries.

THERE was no agreement on whether to merge two proposed laws governing hazardous waste. One seeks to revise the 1994 EU directive on hazardous waste incineration, while the other aims to revise two 1989 directives on the incineration of other kinds of waste.

French Environment Minister Dominique Voynet insisted that rules on hazardous waste should be far stricter than those for non-hazardous waste.

Ministers discussed how often companies should publish environmental audits under the EU's voluntary scheme, with some arguing that three-yearly reviews would be sufficient instead of the annual audits which are currently required. They also agreed that it was important to help small and medium-sized enterprises sign up to the programme by, for example, providing funding and allowing an adjustment period for new participants.