Fate of EU car recycling plan hangs in the balance

Date: 27/01/2000

By Gareth Harding

A POWERFUL group of MEPs have launched a last-ditch attempt to persuade their colleagues in the European Parliament to water down planned new EU legislation on car recycling.

With just a week to go before the crunch vote, there is now a real chance that the full assembly could reject the advice of its own environment committee.

Last summer, Union governments grudgingly agreed to force car-makers to foot the bill for taking back 'end-of-life' vehicles, but delayed introduction of the proposed legislation from 2001 until 2006 under intense pressure from Germany and the UK.

The Parliament's influential environmental committee accepted the Council of Ministers' approach earlier this month. But Christian Democrat MEPs and a significant number of Socialist members are fighting a rearguard action to dilute the take-back provisions in the painstakingly drafted text.

Much to the delight of Europe's car manufacturers, German Christian Democrat Karl-Heinz Florenz and his Socialist compatriot Bernd Lange have tabled an amendment which would share the cost of recycling vehicles between car makers and buyers.

If this proposal is supported by the full Parliament when it votes on the issue next Thursday (3 February), the last owners of a car would still be able to hand their vehicle back to manufacturers at no cost but buyers would be charged a top-up fee to pay for the costs of recycling the vehicle at the point of purchase.

The German MEPs are also seeking to weaken the reuse and recovery targets for vehicles already on the road, although they are calling for stricter goals for cars produced after 2005.

The key amendments are supported by Parliament's largest political group, the European People's Party, as well as smaller right-wing parties and a sizeable chunk of the Socialists. However, Greens, Liberals and most left-wingers are fiercely opposed to any weakening of the approach agreed by EU governments.

Dutch Green MEP Alexander de Roo, vice-chairman of the environment committee, said the Parliament had tried to make "the Council of Minister's positions greener for 20 years", adding: "Now we are in danger of reversing that position." He also warned that if the assembly voted to water down the Council's text, the European Commission would be more reluctant to come forward with a strong proposal on the take-back of waste electronic goods.

Although the vote on producer responsibility is hanging in the balance, the Parliment is expected to support the environment committee's calls to delay the phase out of heavy metals and exempt collectors' cars from the directive's provisions.

Whichever way the vote goes next week, conciliation talks between MEPs and ministers will almost certainly be needed to find a compromise before the proposal becomes law. But one Commission official warned that given the difficulties EU governments faced in agreeing a common position, there was "no chance" that MEPs would get a better deal.

A powerful group of MEPs have launched a last-ditch attempt to persuade their colleagues in the European Parliament to water down planned new EU legislation on car recycling.