23-25 July: Environment Ministers’ Informal

Date: 29/07/1999

EU ENVIRONMENT ministers agreed on the need to put pressure on the countries bidding for Union membership to step up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or at least keep them at current levels. The call was led by Finland's Satu Hassi, who argued that this was necessary to ensure the Union could meet its long-term climate change commitments. “The EU enlargement or accession is one of the major factors influencing the European environmental policies in the future,” said Hassi in a paper distributed to fellow ministers. She argued that eastward expansion offered genuine prospects for improving the environment throughout Europe, but cautioned that “economic growth may have detrimental effects on the environment unless measures are taken to avoid this”.

ALTHOUGH the candidate countries are on track to meet climate change commitments up until 2012, environmental experts fear emissions will explode after that as economic growth spurs greater energy consumption and thus pollution problems. By 2010, private car use in the applicant countries is expected to soar by about 60&percent;, compared to the projected 25&percent; increase in existing EU member states, causing greater congestion and air pollution. Representatives from 11 countries which have applied for Union membership attended the meeting.

THERE was wide agreement that the right to impose stricter environmental standards should be maintained during the forthcoming round of World Trade Organisation talks and that trade agreements must not weaken commitments made under multilateral environmental accords. Ministers also stressed the need to incorporate environmental concerns into trade, investment and development aid.

THE importance of making progress in integrating environmental considerations into other EU policy areas under the 'Cardiff process' was stressed by ministers. They called on all economic sectors, such as industry, energy, transport and agriculture, to shoulder more responsibility for tackling environmental problems, while acknowledging that some industries were already making progress in this area. The Finnish presidency warned that although the EU had introduced a wide range of environmentally beneficial laws, progress had been hampered by increasing traffic, energy consumption, the exploitation of natural resources and the Union's own agricultural policies. Hassi said that environmental policies must go beyond simply clearing up the damage caused by a range of economic activities.

MINISTERS pledged to find effective ways to integrate environmental concerns into transport policy as quickly as possible, citing in particular the need for measures to reduce carbon dioxide output and harmful emissions from road vehicles and aircraft which lead to the formation of ground-level ozone. They said such measures might consist of taxes and other economic instruments, improvements in technical standards for vehicles, and favouring more environmentally friendly transport modes. Ministers said that in other sectors, taxes on energy production would be needed to boost eco-efficiency and promote more environmentally friendly forms of energy.