Commissioner makes cleaner air a top priority

Date: 10/02/2000

By Simon Coss

IMPROVING the quality of the air which Europeans breathe has emerged as a key priority for new Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström.

Aside from her outspoken criticisms of EU member states for their failure to respect the pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions made at the 1997 climate change talks in Kyoto, she is also putting pressure on governments to adopt a number of ambitious plans to reduce air pollution.

Key among these is a package of measures unveiled last June in the dying days of the Santer Commission which would set ceilings on the levels of pollutants which cause acid rain, eutrophication (the phenomenon which leads to dead lakes and rivers), and excessive amounts of ground-level ozone.

While ozone is a vital component of the earth's upper atmosphere, it can become a serious menace at ground level as it is a major component of the summer smogs which regularly choke the Union's big cities.

The Commission argues that its plan, if adopted in its original form, would enable the Union to reduce its emissions of sulphur dioxide by 78%, volatile organic compounds by 60%, oxides of nitrogen by 55% and ammonia by 21% by 2010.

But while Wallström is adamant that such major cuts are needed, several EU governments have already made it clear that they are less enthusiastic about the Commission's plan.

At their quarterly meeting in Luxembourg in October, EU environment ministers argued that the targets the Commission was proposing were too tough.

The loudest protests came form the Union's southern member states. which insisted that the Union should base its emissions ceilings on a set of less stringent United Nations targets. But Wallström stood firm on the issue and her task now will be to try to rally members of the European Parliament to her cause. MEPs will have a major say over the final shape of the new legislation because it is being dealt with under the co-decision procedure, under which the assembly has an equal say with governments over proposed laws.

Aside from the question of low-level pollution, the Commission is also pushing for a total ban on products which deplete the ozone layer - the earth's natural sun screen.

The main products being targeted are hydroflourocarbons, which are used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems, and the highly toxic pesticide methyl bromide.

But here too, the institution faces intense opposition both from industry and from several southern EU governments. These critics argue that the Commission should allow a longer phase-out period for ozone-destroying products and have suggested that the EU should follow the timetable set out in the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement on the issue.

Elsewhere, the Commission is currently putting the finishing

touches to its 'Auto Oil II' proposals, a series of measures designed to tidy up some loose ends left over from the ambitious Auto-Oil package, which was agreed in 1998 and contains a raft of tough new EU-wide measures to combat traffic pollution.

The first Auto Oil programme was generally considered a success, although many environmental organisations were angered by the decision to give the EU's southern member states extra time to comply with certain aspects of the legislation.

Auto-Oil II will look at issues such as pollution from motorbikes, boat engines and the sorts of heavy machinery used on building sites.

Improving the quality of the air which Europeans breathe has emerged as a key priority for new Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström. Article forms part of a survey 'Environment'.