PRESIDENCY ACTIVITIES

Spain, which holds the Presidency of the EU and of the Council of Ministers from January to June 2002, is making progress on certain of its priority concerns.

Environment: On 1^st February 2002 the Spanish Council of Ministers took a further step towards ratifying the Kyoto Protocol by agreeing that the international Treaty would be passed to the Spanish Parliament for urgent processing.  One of Spain’s priorities during its EU Presidency is to encourage ratification of the Kyoto Protocol so that it may enter into force ahead of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio + 10) scheduled to take place in Johannesburg in August and September. 

The Kyoto Protocol of the U.N. Framework Convention on climate change was signed by all EU Ministers in New York on 29^th April 1998.  When US President George W Bush announced in the summer of 2001 that the US intended to scrap Kyoto, no EU Member States had ratified the Treaty.  The Protocol sets commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 2008-2012 by 5% compared to 1990 levels.  To achieve this the EU would need to reduce polluting emissions by 8%.  For Spain the figure would be 15%.

To enter into force, the Kyoto Protocol will need to be ratified by at least 55 countries.  A European Parliament report concerning Kyoto has also been published.  Rapporteur is Portuguese MEP Jorge Moreira da Silva (Document referent: A5-025/2002, COM(2001)579 - C5-0019/2002, available on http://www.europarl.eu.int

Information Technology: An informal meeting of ministers of Science and Technology was held in Vitoria, Spain on 22^nd February.  Ministers were asked to reply to a questionnaire on the eEurope 2002 action plan.  eEurope is built upon a methodology which consists of speeding up legal measures; refocusing existing financial support programmes and benchmarking.  It has three objectives: (i) faster, cheaper and more secure internet (ii) investing in people and skills (iii) stimulating internet use.  Objectives were divided into 11 action lines and 64 targeted initiatives, possibly too many for satisfactory evaluation.

Three supporting initiatives were created to assist in eEurope implementation (i)eLearning – education; (ii) goDigital – small and medium-sized enterprises; (iii) eContent for production and dissemination of European digital content.  The relationship between these initiatives and eEurope action plan is not clearly defined.

Emphasis is increasingly being placed on technological convergence where the EU is being counselled to focus on key strengths such as mobile telecommunications and digital TV.  It is recommended it underplay its lack of strength in deployment of broadband networks, applications and content.

Topics to be addressed as (i) implementation of technical standards to facilitate access, inter-connection and inter-operability; (ii) digital TV as a gateway for wider access to the information society; (iii) availability of broadband to enable convergence opportunities to be exploited to the full; (iv) electronic identification and authentification (including promotion of e-Government services).  [Please see: http://www.eu2002.es for info.]

NEWS ITEMS FROM THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS:

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research into innovative eco-friendly timber and composite for buildings

On 17^th February 2002 COST, the European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, announced a concerted Research Action “Innovative Timber and Composite Elements/Components in Building” which will be implemented when a Memorandum of Understanding is signed.  The Action, with a proposed four-year duration, is valued at Euro 70 million (at 2001 prices) .  Details are set out in COST document COST 213/02.

Commissioner welcomes call by Prime Ministers Blair and Kok for increased business R&D investment

Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has welcomed calls for stimulation of business investment in research to counter the increasing gap between EU R&D spend and that of USA and Japan – now some Euro 80 billion a year and still growing.  Low business sector investment is responsible for nearly 90% of the gap.  The Commission has called for Member States to agree a global R&D target for the Union of 3% of GDP by 2010, compared with the current 1.9%.  In 1999 research accounted for 1.1% of EU GDP, compared to 1.8% in the US and 2.1% in Japan.

EDUCATION:

The TEMPUS university co-operation programme is to be extended to Mediterranean countries.

Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and the Lebanon will now be able to benefit from the TEMPUS programme with funding from the MEDA programme (Euro 21.5 million for 2003 & 2004 respectively).  Cyprus and Malta and the EU candidate countries already take part in the SOCRATES programme, and Turkey should soon be in the same association.  TEMPUS allows individual grants for teachers, researchers and other higher education specialists to visit partner countries, allowing all partners to improve the quality of university training systems. TEMPUS is already active in south-eastern Europe, the former USSR and Mongolia.

ENVIRONMENT:

Energy Performance of Buildings:  Proposed Directive [Ref: COM(501) 226]

The European Parliament’s first reading of the draft directive on 6^th February 2002 proposed the following amendments:

• Rejection of early introduction of mandatory energy certificates for buildings – energy audit certificates to become obligatory only in 2010 (Commission proposed 2002, Council of Ministers 2008)
• Add a new definition of thermal insulation to cover any component part of the building service to reduce heat exchange with the outside
• Distinguish between new and existing building
• Allow for climatic and local conditions to be taken into account for calculating minimum energy performance standards
• Provide for a mandatory CO² emission indicator for new buildings
• Existing building would have to comply with the Directive within five years of its entry into force
• Ensure the independence and training of those involved in building certification on inspection
• Request the European Commission to make new proposals to include buildings with a surface area less than 1,000m²    e.g. privately-owned apartments

The subject is also reviewed in a European Parliament Report relating to the proposed directive on energy performance in buildings: Document Ref: A5-0465/2001, Rapporteur: Alejo Vida-Quadras Roca MEP.

European Environment Agency (EEA) reports on 5 Selected Waste Streams

An EEA technical report issued in January 2002 indicates that variations in Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste are not only the result of economic and cultural differences, but also differences in definition.

Austria and Germany consider excavated soil and stones as C&D waste.  According to the data published, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands recycle 80% of C&D waste; Finland, Ireland and Italy some 30-50%.  Report: http://reports.eea.eu.int/technical_report_2001_69/en/tech_rep_69.pdf

Advocate General gives opinion on Quarry Waste in Finland

The European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) Advocate General, Francis Jacobs, rejected claims that unsaleable granite blocks left over from quarrying were “natural”, harmless and could be used for applications such as breakwaters without further processing.  Finland’s Supreme Court had sought intervention in a dispute between Vehmessalo municipality and the Turku & Pori region over who should issue a licence to local  company, Palin Granit Oy.  In his 17 January opinion, the Advocate General backed the European Commission argument that the blocks were waste.  The decisive factor, he said, was that the company had intentionally discarded them.  He argued that many “natural” products were included in the EU’s established waste catalogue.  It is believed this ruling will have a bearing on a proposed new EU initiative to draft rules on mining waste.  Further details: http://www.curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgibin/form.pl?lang=en&Submit=Submit&docrequire+alldocs&numaff=C-9/00

Groundwater Directive proposal expected by end 2002

The European Commission is to propose a Daughter Directive, in line with the objective of good groundwater chemical status set out in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (Ref: 2000/60/EC).  The proposal will set out measures to achieve the requisite status and will determine criteria for identifying “significant and sustained upwards trends reversals”.  If the latter can not be agreed at EU level within the specified timeframe, Member States would establish national criteria within five years of entry into force of WFD. 

The 2002 deadline may be difficult to achieve; Member States will not submit date from river basin assessment until 2004.  The Commission is to hold a meeting to develop ideas from drafting groups set up in January.  Final papers will be delivered to the Commission by end March 2002.

Catherine Day becomes new Director General for D G Environment

The former Deputy Director General of D G External Relations has been appointed new Environment Director General.  Ms Day, who comes from Ireland, joined the Commission in 1979.

Two new initiatives on track to improve availability of environmental information

GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is a joint initiative of the Commission and the European Space Agency which aims to strengthen EU capabilities to acquire and integrate high-quality date derived from spaceborne, terrestrial and marine observations with geographical and socio-economic information.  Policy needs and existing structures are being assessed from 2001-2003.  The initiative will be supported by tenders in the Research Framework Programmes and should be completed by 2008.  GMES should contribute to the aims of INSPIRE (INfrastructure for Spatial InfoRmation in Europe).  INSPIRE concerns preparation of Community legislation to make relevant, harmonised and quality geographic information available in order to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate Community environmental policy-making (e.g. transport, agriculture etc).

Next Page >>>>>>>

Back to News Page