Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-31-Speech-4-133"
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"en.20010531.3.4-133"2
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".
The three reports on environment and development tabled for voting at the part-session on 31 May 2001 will set the tone of the European Parliament for the preparations for the Gothenburg Summit.
Ten years after the concept of sustainable development was recognised as the development system that can reconcile economy and ecology, despite a whole host of standards and regulations, on the whole the environment has suffered more than it has gained as a result of development.
Although the concept of sustainable development seems to be understood by the Commission and certain Member States, this is almost certainly not the case in all fifteen Member States. Even some Members of the Commission still imagine that economic development in the long term can be adjusted simply by adding a dash of environment.
However, it is all very well for the European Union to talk about wanting sustainable development. The fact is, that its policies on agriculture, the economy, transport, energy, foreign affairs and development persist in demonstrating that the reverse is true. The environmental aspect still ends up playing the Cinderella role.
This situation is clearly reflected in the reports tabled before the European Parliament. The resolutions have succeeded in giving practical expression to our responsibilities and obligations in the face of the continuous deterioration of our planet, global warming, and the disappearance of biodiversity, and they serve as a reminder that only a completely new approach to policies can hope to reverse these trends.
As far as they go, all these proposals, the abolition of subsidies which have a harmful impact on the environment, the introduction of ecotaxes, environmental responsibility, making WTO reform conditional upon environmental aspects, the annual assessment of policy progress using credible criteria, are moving in the right direction. However, will the Council and the Commission have the courage to take into account the position of the European Parliament? We cannot count on it. Despite the clear thinking behind policies dealing with global warming, and the undertakings that have been given either orally or enshrined in treaties, guidelines or other international agreements, as yet these pious wishes have been put into practice on only a very modest scale. Remember that greenhouse-gas emissions would have to be reduced by 80-90% over a period of 50 years in order to halt the global-warming process. So far, a figure of only 8% has been agreed
The Fifteen know what is at stake. Will they have the heart and the courage, at Gothenburg, to change direction and change gear, by daring to get to grips with the issues of CAP reform, transport pollution, and energy? If not, it will be with full knowledge of the facts that they will have to take on board the economic, social, environmental and financial consequences of their political inconsistency."@en1
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