MIU, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Bilag 47: Pressemeddelelser fra Europa-Parlamentet

Parliament called on EU member states to enforce EU environmental law morerigorously in Thursday's vote endorsing a deal with the Council of Ministers on theseventh EU environmental action programme, to run until 2020. This programme willstructure the EU's entire environmental policy, from water management to climatechange."Environmental action certainly entails costs, as does inaction, but it also entails benefitswhich public funding authorities and private investors cannot afford to ignore in today'sclimate. Environmental concerns must therefore no longer be the adjustment variable, butmust be built in, well upstream, to various sector-specific policies, said rapporteur GastonFranco (EPP, FR) whose text was approved by 472 votes to 81, with 21 abstentions."The aim, henceforward, is that undertakings given by the EU and its member states underthis policy must be duly fulfilled and EU environmental legislation fully enforced. This is aduty to EU citizens and to our planet", he added.The seventh action programme, proposed in November 2012, lists nine priority aims to beachieved by 2020, including protection of the environment and the strengthening ofecological resilience, support for sustainable and efficient growth, and protection againstenvironmental threats to health.To these ends, MEPs propose inter alia enforcing EU environmental law more rigorously,providing security for investments that support environmental policy and efforts to combatclimate change, and taking more account of environmental concerns in other policies.Next stepsThe new environmental action programme is to be formally approved by the Council inmid-November and published in the EU Official Journal by the end of this year.ContactBaptiste CHATAINBXL: (+32) 2 28 40992STR: (+33) 3 881 74151PORT: (+32) 498 98 13 37EMAIL:[email protected]TWITTER: EP_Environment