Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-15-Speech-2-204"
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, “sustainable development is any development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. This concept, formulated by the Brundtland Commission in 1987, laid the foundations for the Rio declarations. The European Union committed itself to translating this concept into concrete strategies in time for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Thirdly, that subsidies which encourage wasteful use of natural resources are removed. This is an area in which we will have to take courageous decisions.
Fourthly, sustainable development depends on the daily investment, consumption and mobility decisions of millions of businesses and consumers. Widespread willingness to explain and active support for sustainable development is therefore essential. Thus, we want to encourage businesses to take an active approach in this field, inviting, for example, all publicly quoted companies with at least 500 staff to include in their annual reports an assessment of performance against economic, environmental and social yardsticks.
The third feature focuses clearly on the risks we will have to face in our endeavours to promote sustainable development.
In addition to the more horizontal measures, we are proposing a number of clear objectives and measures at European Union level to tackle what we consider to be the risks of affirming the principle of sustainable development.
You may remember that, in March, we identified some alarming trends of irreversible deterioration in six areas: climate change, poverty and social exclusion, the ageing population, traffic, the diminishing of natural resources and loss of biodiversity and, lastly, threats to public health. These trends affect us all, and in order to halt them we have to take specific, incisive action, and we have to do so now since, in many cases, we have now reached the limit.
The recent European Councils at Lisbon, Nice and Stockholm have already decided upon ambitious, objective measures for combating poverty and social exclusion and for dealing with the social implications of an ageing society, so we are not proposing any new initiatives in these two areas. However, I want to stress that they – the social sectors – are an integral part of the European Union's strategy for sustainable development, on an equal footing with the environment and public health.
In the other four areas, however, we are proposing new and, I would add, ambitious objectives. Not surprisingly, the most ambitious proposals are also the most controversial. To combat climate change
for example, we are proposing, in addition to our Kyoto commitments, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1% of their 1990 levels every year until 2020. We are proposing more ambitious environmental targets for energy taxation, and phasing out all subsidies for fossil fuel production and consumption by 2010.
These are all proposals which will require quite a high level of political and economic change. Obviously, steps will have to be taken to develop alternative sources of employment for redundant miners or the fields affected, and we will also need to think about the specific situation of coal in some candidate countries, within the framework of the accession negotiations. Lastly, the measures we are proposing include the goal that, by 2010, alternative fuels, including biofuels, should account for at least 7% of all the fuel consumed by cars and trucks.
To address threats to public health, we propose to ensure that, by 2020, chemicals are produced and used only in ways that do not pose significant threats to human health and the environment, and to redirect support from the common agricultural policy to ensuring healthy products and promoting quality rather than quantity. This will mean, for example – it seems to be a popular idea – phasing out subsidies to tobacco producers. Here, as well, we will need to develop alternative sources of income and activity for, apart from anything else, in some cases, these productions are in extremely poor areas. This is, therefore, a policy which will require a great deal of coordination.
Our proposals to improve the transport system include disassociating transport growth from growth in Gross Domestic Product and ensuring that the share of road transport in 2010 is no greater than in 1998, the most recent year for which data are available. This is a goal that may seem minor but which will require considerable change and investment.
These are a few examples of our proposals for Gothenburg. They do not illustrate all the decisions taken but they are sufficient to show clearly that translating these measures into real legislation will require strong political leadership.
We are, therefore, coming to the end of a long story and I am pleased to inform you that, today, the Commission has voted on – or rather, has adopted – its proposal for a European Union strategy for sustainable development as part of our preparations for this World summit. Sustainable development is indeed a fundamental goal of the EU and has been one of the main aims of European integration since its incorporation into the new Article 2 of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
Fourth and finally, the credibility of any strategy depends on effective monitoring of its implementation and on review mechanisms. The Stockholm European Council decided that all aspects of sustainable development should be reviewed at the annual Spring Council. Therefore, measuring our progress each spring will mean adding a number of indicators to those already agreed upon in Lisbon. These indicators will develop naturally from the long-term objectives and targets the Commission is proposing in its strategy paper for Gothenburg.
For the strategy to succeed, the Commission believes that the working methods of all the European Union institutions also need to be changed, starting with ourselves. At all stages of the Community legislative process, there is, in fact, an unfortunate tendency to develop and discuss policy proposals without paying sufficient attention to the connections between different policy areas. The way the Commission and, I believe, the Council and Parliament are currently organised reinforces this narrow, sectoral approach. We must therefore consider what steps should be taken to remove the sectoral barriers that prevent us from developing policies with sustainable development as their core concern across the board.
The Commission, for its part, will establish a sustainable development ‘Round Table’ of independent advisors who will report directly to the President of the Commission. Their work will be taken into account when we prepare the overview report in December every year. They will also make recommendations on how to make the main body of Community policies more coherent. We feel – although this is just a proposal – that it might be useful for Parliament and the Council to establish similar bodies, which would help us to sustain ongoing, constructive dialogue.
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that if the practical proposals outlined today can be successfully translated into legislation, this will give the European Union a good chance of becoming, in the long term, a more just society, which has much more respect for man and the environment. If we are to deliver a better quality of life for ourselves and our children, we need to make sustainable development something which all Europeans see as relevant and exciting, not just the experts. Sacrifices may be needed initially but major benefits will be reaped in the long term. What we cannot do is sit back and let present trends continue. We do not expect to change the world at Gothenburg, but what we must do is send out a signal that attitudes and behaviour need to be changed. Europe must set the standard in this area, and we are making every endeavour to ensure that this new undertaking gets off to a good start.
It is, therefore, very appropriate that sustainable development should have been given such a prominent place. It used to be seen as a luxury, but it is now increasingly recognised that there are a number of major trends giving cause for concern that we need to address now – before it is too late. Some of these trends, like global warming of the atmosphere or the loss of biodiversity, concern vital aspects of the earth's ecological functioning on which the fate of humanity depends. However, the subject of sustainable development should not be seen as all doom and gloom. The real challenge of a sustainable development policy is, in fact, to ensure that economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection can go hand in hand. In this regard, further technological progress and the use of cost-effective, economically acceptable instruments will be critical. If we structure our policies intelligently and announce our long-term targets in good time, our economies will not find it too hard to pursue the path of sustainable development.
The strategy paper the Commission has adopted today seeks to lay the foundations for the European Union strategy, which should – and must – be adopted by the forthcoming European Council on 15/16 June in Gothenburg. The paper is our response to the invitation issued in Helsinki in December 1999 to “prepare a proposal for a long-term strategy dovetailing policies for economically, socially and ecologically sustainable development”. As well as featuring on the agenda of the Gothenburg Summit, I expect this subject to be one of the points discussed with President Bush at the bilateral meeting prior to Gothenburg.
What is the strategy we are proposing and which we have adopted today? First and foremost, this strategy is the first step in a two-stage approach. Firstly, we are committed to assuming all our responsibilities at international level and thus displaying total solidarity in this field. We intend to ensure that all our policies help to promote global sustainable development. Once we have put our own affairs in order, we shall insist that other developed countries accept their responsibilities as well. We also wish to place sustainable development on the agenda of all the international institutions.
Secondly, promoting sustainable development means linking and integrating the economic, social and environmental objectives of our societies. Unless we make our policies more coherent, progress towards sustainable development will be very limited. For the strategy to succeed, we need to move beyond the abstract discussion of concepts and definitions of sustainability: we have to translate the Brundtland concept into action.
To overcome sectoral resistance and set goals that meet long-term requirements, we need incisive policies and ambitious decisions. And, of course, to achieve this, we need the individual and collective commitment of the citizens. Governments can set the reference frameworks but, ultimately, sustainable development can only come about if people and businesses make the right consumption and investment decisions.
The Commission is taking up this challenge by proposing horizontal measures to improve the overall effectiveness of our policies. These measures are designed to ensure, in particular, four things. Firstly, that when policy is drafted in any particular field, its likely implications, good or bad, for any other policy areas are identified.
Secondly, that all policies have sustainable development as their central concern. In particular, tangible sustainable development criteria must become guiding principles in future reviews of common policies such as the common agricultural, fisheries and transport policies and also in other sectors."@en1
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