Raad Milieu bereikt overeenstemming over beleidsterreinen biodiversiteit en water (en)

The Environment Council has adopted Council conclusions on biodiversity and water strategy, on 21 June 2011 in Luxembourg. However, on the Decarbonisation Roadmap Presidency conclusions were adopted with qualified majority rather than unanimous Council conclusions.

“On the question of biodiversity strategy to 2020, Member States’ positions were quite far from each other, at the beginning of the debate. After a long and dramatic debate, we managed to form a common position based on the Presidency’s recommendations,” Hungarian Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas said in the press conference following the meeting.

The Council conclusions on the protection of biological diversity, facilitates the start of the preparation of the EU’s biodiversity strategy to 2020. It prescribes the protection of the diversity of the living world for the next decade. The main goals were set by the European Council in March 2011. According to the strategy, the extinction of species and degradation of ecosystems must be stopped by 2020.

The conclusions that were adopted in the meeting, is a compromise document: although Member States have supported the entire strategy, they only acknowledged the six concrete objectives of the strategy.

One of the main ambitions of the Hungarian Presidency was to incorporate the importance of biodiversity protection into public thinking, and to make it an unavoidable aspect in both political and professional decision making.

The Council will hold more detailed debates on the biodiversity strategy during the next six months under the Polish Presidency. “This decision will give new impetus to global efforts. The next Polish Presidency has received important grounds for elaborating the related decisions in detail,” the Hungarian minister added.

Full agreement on water policy strategy

The conclusions on water policy were adopted without debate. The conclusions will greatly contribute to laying the foundations of the European Union’s new water strategy. The document highlights that extreme weather phenomena will become stronger with the climate change. However, these can be eased by harmonising the agricultural policy, land use, and nature conservation, in order to restore flood areas and facilitate reforestation, inter alia.

The ministers have outlined their expectations concerning the Blueprint on water policy, which is to be delivered by the Commission in 2012. Water policy was a priority of the Hungarian Presidency. At the informal meeting in Gödöllo, EU environment protection ministers started the common reflection on the future of water resources, sustainable water management, and the mitigation of the consequences of extreme environmental phenomena (such as floods, inland water, droughts), in Europe.

The water policy highlights the increasing global need for drinking water, while the world’s water supplies may drop by 40 percent by 2030.

No unanimous agreement on decarbonisation strategy

The Environment Council has adopted Presidency’s conclusions with a qualified majority, concerning the Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050. The proposal was submitted by the Commission in March. Overall, the ministers have welcomed the Commission’s proposal, although some of its points were debated.

The Roadmap presented ways to lower CO2 emission by up to 85-90 percent in a cost-efficient way by 2050 (compared to the level of 1990). According to the Commission, this goal can only be cost-effectively achieved, if the levels are decreased by 25 percent by 2020, 40 percent by 2030, and 60 percent by 2040.

Hungarian Minister for National Development Tamás Fellegi stressed at the Environment Council’s meeting that moving towards a low level CO2 emitting economy is important for the European Union, because it will boost sustainable growth and innovation, increases energy security, creates jobs and enhances competitiveness.

Mr Fellegi pointed out that the Roadmap on climate policy is not only a focal point of the Hungarian Presidency, but also it is the key element of the flagship initiative called “resource-efficient Europe”.

The ministers stressed that all sectors of industry must contribute to decreasing CO2 emissions. They emphasized that in order to reach the global mitigation objectives, a stable carbon market is needed, where emissions quotas reward investments necessary for CO2 emissions reduction. The Hungarian minister pointed out that cost efficiency, the “polluters pay” principle, equity and solidarity must all be considered when discussing how to distribute efforts and profits among Member States.

Mr Fellegi highlighted that climate strategy must be integrated into CAP, cohesion policy, energy, transport policy, industrial and construction sectors.

Hungarian report on the ban of genetically modified organisms

The Hungarian Presidency gave a progress report on the 2010 proposal which would allow individual Member States to ban or restrict the cultivation of genetically modified plants on their respective territories based on moral, economic or other concerns rather than health or environment protection aspects. The Hungarian Presidency’s progress report describes that some Member States do not support the proposal because it is in conflict with single market regulations and WTO rules. The presidential report asks the Polish and upcoming Presidencies to keep the proposal on the agenda.