Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-13-Speech-2-051"
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"en.20030513.3.2-051"2
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".
Mr President, the
Commission communication on environmental agreements is part of the process of simplifying and improving the legislative framework, which we all support. Indeed, it is necessary for Community legislation to be further adapted in view of current issues, the challenges posed by enlargement, local situations and constantly developing technology. The object is to maintain the legal certainty of law on the territory of the Union by means of greater involvement and dynamism on the part of economic and social operators.
This is the backdrop to the issue of environmental agreements. I support the line taken by the Commission, which makes a distinction between two types of environmental agreement
and, having made a number of amendments, I fully acknowledge the usefulness of these instruments to supplement regulatory measures, to be used only with a view to making improvements in the environmental field with a scope equal to or broader than those to be obtained by means of traditional legislative procedures.
The Treaty does not contain any specific provision concerning environmental agreements. Such instruments must therefore be used in full compliance with all the provisions of the Treaty and the Community's international commitments. The basic structure of Community policy on the environment is and has always been legislative provisions, which in only a few specific cases may be combined with voluntary agreements.
In drafting the opinion on which we are about to vote, taking account of the debate held on the subject and Parliament's positions, I felt that a number of clarifications and guarantees still needed to be included before the instruments mentioned in the Communication could be considered to be acceptable and genuinely practicable. Five binding preliminary conditions are identified in particular, which I will now summarise briefly. Firstly, I tried to make the concept of voluntary agreements as instruments for integrating Community legislation more
explicit.
Secondly, I called for upstream definition of the sectors which might be the subject of voluntary agreements, through both coregulation and self-regulation instruments. New regulatory instruments should, in fact, be used on the basis of a common reference framework showing, from the outset, the intention to use voluntary agreements in that specific sector. The specific intention to use a voluntary agreement should be mentioned in the Commission's annual work programme, or in documents with broader scope, such as White Papers or Thematic Strategies. Thirdly, I proposed further analysis of the assessment criteria needed for correct use of environmental agreements.
I consider that, in order to guarantee the transparency and effectiveness of voluntary instruments, it is necessary to define the conditions of application and verify the implementing procedures. As stressed earlier, the objectives of the agreement – defined within a legislative reference framework or set out in a Commission recommendation – must, in any case, entail obligations for the parties concerned. Failure to respect or achieve the objectives laid down would trigger recourse to supplementary legislative mechanisms or the replacement of the agreement.
All things considered, the distinction between coregulation and self-regulation is appreciated here. In the first case, the instruments have to be included in a binding legal framework giving the Council and Parliament the right to participate and adopt objectives, providing for public access and participation and introducing effective monitoring and sanction mechanisms. In the second case, the Commission's role may be to stimulate or encourage, by means of a recommendation, or to recognise, by means of an exchange of letters with the representatives of the sectors concerned. Whatever the choice of instrument, Parliament and the Council retain their power to scrutinise the results achieved and the possibility of using typical legislative instruments at any time.
With regard to these bases, which the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy has improved and endorsed, we give the green light to the Commission so that, in the sectors mentioned, first and foremost the PVC sector, we can start to put this mix of legislation and voluntary commitments to the practical test. We have enhanced and rearranged the tool box: now let us all use it to the full!"@en1
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