Council and Parliament views on Sixth Action Programme for the Environment: In early January the Council of Ministers’ common position was presented to Parliament.  Much agreement in principle has been reached but key issues are considered to be qualitative and quantitative objectives and the timetables.  The purpose of the programme is to set environmental targets at a general level and for different sectors, whereas the means to achieve these will be devised on a sector-by-sector basis. 

Parliament wants voluntary agreements to have a legal framework and for thematic strategies to be adopted under the co-decision procedure, allowing Parliament to play a role in determining the objectives.  Parliament is also supportive of Europe-wide environmental taxation.

A Parliamentary report drawn up by Environment Committee Rapporteur Riitta Myller can be found on:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/home/default_en.htm

Financing available for  sustainable urban development: A Community Framework for Co-operation to promote Sustainable Development was presented on 30^th January by the Commission’s D.G. Environment.  A Community Framework is a legal instrument that allows the Commission to provide financial/technical support to local authorities’ networks.  For 2001-2004 Euro 14 million will be available to encourage local level implementation of EU environmental legislation, sustainable development, local Agenda 21 largely through information exchanges and improvement or environmental quality in areas where “environmental problems occur alongside socio-economic problems”.  

Further information is available from: Claes.Andersson@cec.eu.int (D G Env., Unit B3, Territorial Dimension)

Integrated Product Policy (IPP):  IPP was seen as the commission as a resource management tool, permitting sustainable use of resources.  Resource management would involve research and development into products and production that use fewer resources; best practice programme for business; placing taxation burdens onto natural resources e.g. virgin raw materials tax and other economic instruments; integrating resource efficiency considerations into Integrated Product Policy, eco-labelling, green procurement policies and environmental reporting.   IPP is one of a mix of instruments to support sustainable development.

In January 2002, a review of the EU’s “New Approach” legislation was launched by means of a 3-month consultation period.   EU New Approach directives set “essential requirement” with which manufacturers must comply.  21 such directives have been adopted in several sectors with notable success in product safety.  IPP is considered to be less successful in outcome (e.g. packaging directives).

The consultation document can be found on: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/consultations/new_approach_rev/documents/consultation_doc.pdf

In its 17^th January Resolution on the Commission Green Paper, the European Parliament was strongly critical of the proposal’s lack of precision, absence of clear objectives with timetables as well as of methods and  monitoring indicators.   The Commission is called to critically evaluate achievements and failures of New Approach legislation and present a revised New Approach which ensures that environmental

Coastal Zone Management: The Commission announced on 29^th January 2002 that a common position had been reached on the “adoption of a Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council  concerning the implementation of integrated coastal zone management in Europe”.  It was agreed that there is no need for a future legal framework for integrated coastal zone management and that the Recommendation should avoid any binding language on Member States.  The aim of the Recommendation is to encourage Member States to develop their national strategies on coastal management.

Other matters: A new protocol to the Barcelona Convention aims to reduce Mediterranean Sea pollution – the document reference is COM(2002) 11 final of 15.01.2002 available on the europa web-site.

European MEP Maria Sronosa Martinez produced a report on implementation of urban waste-water Directive (91/271/EEC) highlighting problems in brining it into effect.  The report has European Parliament reference FINAL A5-0459/2001, is dated 19 December 2001 and can be found on the European Parliament web-site.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

E-Europe action Plan: in a 17^th January speech in Amsterdam, Commissioner Erkki Liikanen stressed the need to promote broadband internet access and promotion of content, including new services and applications.  In less than a decade, mobile phones have been taken up by almost 75% of the European population, compared to under 50% in the US. 

Generally speaking, Commissioner Liikanen advised, government can and will be a major driver of internet and broadband uptake through the supply of high-quality on-line services an public information.  The different between its importance and its real implementation in Member States, is, however, marked as was indicated in a recent benchmarking survey of basic on-line public services in Europe.  The best scores by far in government services went to services related to income-generating activities of governments, such as income tax, VAT and social contributions.  At the other end of the spectrum were: document delivery services such as driving licenses, passports, building permits etc.  “e-Government teams need to Think Big, Start Small, Scale Fast”.  Governments should encourage usage: it does not come automatically.  There is much opposition to change in public administrations and so senior sponsorship and leadership is critical.

Implementing the EU’s e-commerce directive:  only three Member States met the 16 January 2002 deadline for implementing the e-commerce directive.  The U.K., Italy and Portugal are still in the process of drawing up draft laws. The UK has launched a two-pronged consultation process involving the Department of Trade and Industry and the Treasury.

Information on the e-commerce directive can be found on:

 http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/lif/dat/2000/en_3000L0031.html

TRANSPORT

In a speech given on 29^th January 2002, transport and energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio outlined the vision for transport to 2010 set out in the White Paper for transport.  Promotion of rail and rail freight is key.  A system of tariffs for transport infrastructure use should take external costs into account.  In 2002 the European Commission plans to propos a framework to set principles and methods to follow in fixing tariff system and repayment structures for all transport modes.

In the lack of major project financing capability, development of TENS will focus on removing transport bottlenecks.  A packet o infrastructure directives adopted in March 2001 will be implemented in 202.  Technical specifications (STI), drawn up for high-speed trains in 2001 will provide a mandatory reference for all new materials.  Work on conventional inter-operability will be promoted in 2002 with STI projects planned for 2003.

PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION: A judgement by the Court of Justice on 22^nd January 2002 indicated that professions must examine visiting professionals’ qualifications and recognise them if they are in fact adequate, even if not reciprocally recognised as a matter of law.  The case, which involve an architect, was referred to the Court by Belgium’s Cour de Cassation.  The case reference is: C-31/00 Conseil National de l’Ordre des Architects v Nicolas Dreessen.

Further details may be found on the European Court of Justice web-site on : http://curia.eu.int

NEWS FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

On the agenda for the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg on 4-7 February are: integrating third country nationals; giving workers the right to be consulted on key management decisions; speeding up the reform of Europe’s financial markets; a vote on the proposed EU-wide arrest warrant to combat terrorist; reform of the common agricultural policy and a report on BSE and food safety.

Items of engineering interest include the following:

Report on energy saving buildings – (by MEP Vidal-Quadras Roca, Spain, EPP-ED)

A vote on the report on climate change by Moreira da Silva (Port, EPP-ED)

Report on Galileo satellite navigation project – (by MEP Glante, Germany, PES).  Details of the problems faced in the Galileo project are outlined in this brief in the “News from the Spanish Presidency:

Proposed creation of European Agency for Rail Safety and Inter-operability”.

A report on the Management of regional policy and the structural funds by MEP Pohjamo (Finland, ELDR) is of potential interest since the EU’s structural funds ensure financing of many major infrastructure projects throughout Europe. 

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