Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-30-Speech-3-143"
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".
Mr President, thank you for the various constructive contributions which we have heard. I would, of course, also like to join in congratulating Mrs Hulthén and Mr Blokland on their reports. It is right to discuss these two reports at the same time, as they definitely belong together.
Thank you for this debate. Let us ensure that we can put these issues into practice.
It is remarkable to think that the concept of ‘sustainable development’ has been around for 15 years now and has been kept alive despite so many people criticising it over the years for being woolly, difficult to achieve in practice, difficult to establish practical results for, etc. However, it still no doubt offers us an opportunity to link together economic policy, environmental policy and social policy and not just to see the problems, but also the
inherent in this concept. Therefore, it is important to develop indicators, as pointed out in the debate, and to follow this up in a sensible way. I believe we are just starting to develop effective indicators which, in the long term, may lead to new economic concepts in general, a sort of new definition, including a new economic definition. At the same time, we must of course continue to work on developing effective indicators and effective monitoring of developments.
It has felt as if we have been pressed for time, but I would like to say that we have received more than 100 written comments, all in plenty of time. Almost all environmental organisations, social organisations and even major
organisations have formulated their proposals and sent them to the Commission. We also looked extremely carefully at the proposal contained in the report by Mrs Hulthén.
In our proposal, we at the Commission have said that we naturally wish to ensure that this is a proposal
jointly by many different stakeholders in society and that we will follow it up in such a way that we also consult various groups in society. In this context, Parliament will naturally also have an active role. It could be said that the Commission’s proposal for a strategy for sustainable development has remained the same during negotiations for this proposal. The priorities we established from the start have remained throughout, and the proposals along the way have reflected this.
I would also like to comment on what has been said about the international perspective, for this is incredibly important. The Commission has said that we must continue to become still more practical and to follow up our views on how to act internationally. As such, it is important for us to set our own house in order, show how we will be addressing these issues and show leadership before we start telling the rest of the world what they should be doing. Of course, the global perspective must be present in everything we do. At the same time, our strategy for sustainable development also emphasises, as Mrs Paulsen pointed out, that we must ensure that we rid ourselves of inconsistent policies and subsidies which are actually not good for the environment and which are not favourable to sustainable development. I think this is clear in the programme.
The next step is to address this at the European Council in Gothenburg. It is important to ensure that it is not watered down during this Summit, but that we can actually stick to a plan as ambitious as the Commission’s strategy and get all Member States to work to achieve it. I believe it is a good aim for the Belgian Presidency to follow up matters in the way described by Mr Jonckheer during the debate.
As has also been mentioned in the debate, I think too that it makes sense to review the way the European Parliament and our own institutions must be changed so that we can live up to the ideal of sustainable development and create these links between economic and social issues and environmental issues. To this end, we in the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council will probably have to review our way of working so that it can become effective and so that we have a way of tackling cross-border issues rather than just looking narrowly at limited areas. It will be exciting when we now review policy in areas such as agriculture and fishing, transport and equal opportunities. This will be the moment of truth for us and for the EU as a whole.
These were the most important comments, with the exception of the issue brought up by Mrs Corbey of the way implementation will be carried out. I would say that I have been clear from the beginning that we have good legislation, solid legislation, which was also the conclusion of the report on the Fifth Environment Action Programme. At the same time, we must also ensure that we implement this legislation. Therefore, it is important that we monitor implementation in this area too. It is no doubt possible to find further measures to strengthen the monitoring procedure, but the means already in place to ensure that Member States meet their obligations in line with the legislation must be strengthened. In addition, we must make it clearer for citizens of the EU how well Member States are doing. I believe this can help to put pressure on countries.
Finally, I would like to comment on how we define sustainable development, as this was brought up in Mr Blokland’s report. The Commission’s strategy for sustainable development starts with a quotation from the Brundtland Commission report which contains a definition of sustainable development. The section containing this definition also addresses ways of combating poverty. This is naturally vital. I emphasise once again the significance of a global perspective, but if you have read the Brundtland Commission report carefully, you will see that our definition is correct. I believe it is important for us to keep to this definition as it is excellent and spells out our responsibility towards future generations, which is what it is all about."@en1
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