Could environmentalism be losing its public appeal?

When voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution last year, they prompted European officials to start searching for a way to convince the public that the Union matters.

Margot Wallström, European commissioner for communication, launched her 'Plan D for democracy, dialogue and debate' in a bid to reconnect with EU citizens.

José Manuel Barroso, the president of the commission promised to shed the EU's unpopular bureaucratic image, cutting red tape and promoting 'better regulation'. According to Barroso's thinking, a competitive, business-friendly Europe would offer the best proof of the Union's value.

But less attention has been paid paid to a suggestion from Stavros Dimas, the environment commissioner. The Greek official likes to point out that the environment is one of the few areas showing clear and widespread popular support for EU action and that strong regulation in areas of environmental concern offers a tailor-made way to make the sought-after connection with the citizen.

There is an apparent inconsistency. If Dimas is right to think that citizens want tough EU laws on pollution and recycling, then Barroso's decision to stress instead the importance of growth and competitiveness, only emphasises how out of touch with daily worries Brussels is.

Dimas uses official EU opinion polls to put his case. A 2005 Eurobarometer survey on the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs found that 63% of citizens thought that the environment should be given priority over economic competitiveness (24% said the opposite and 13% did not respond).

"Public opinion therefore demonstrates that we have a popular mandate for a strong, dynamic and effective EU environmental policy," the commissioner told MEPs soon after the 'No' votes to the constitution. "We owe it to [our citizens] to produce good laws."

Dimas has since made no secret of his frustration struggling to push through tough environmental legislation on issues such as soil standards and vehicle emissions.

National evidence suggests that the gap between popular and Commission thinking is wider than ever, according to Dimas.

The popularity of products such as organic clothing is rising every year, while environmentally themed radio and TV programmes and magazine features are becoming increasingly common.

Even national governments seem more aware than the Commission of the easy popularity boost available nowadays by playing up green credentials. In the UK, David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative party, has tried to boost his support by claiming that his party is greener than Tony Blair's Labour government.

Finance ministers flag up subsidies for cleaner cars or tax breaks for renewable energy, in the hope of some positive media coverage amid complaints about hospital funding or petrol prices.

But it may be that the Commission's refusal to play the green card comes from a canny suspicion that green activism is losing its appeal.

Opposition to whale hunting - a totemic environmental cause - appears to be on the wane, if the vote to end the ban on commercial whaling at the International Whaling Commission is any guide. For the environmental lobby, more ominous even than the whale-hunting vote is another Eurobarometer survey, on attitudes to biotechnology. The poll found that the percentage of Europeans who trust environmental groups on biotech issues had plummeted to 35%, down from 56% in 2002.

European views may be shifting. If public opinion on more than biotechnology follows this downward trend, the Barroso Commission and its business-friendly approach could prove to be leagues ahead of European opinion, rather than miles behind.

When voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution last year, they prompted European officials to start searching for a way to convince the public that the Union matters.

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