Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-04-02-Speech-4-022"
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"en.20090402.6.4-022"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should also like to thank the rapporteurs. A label that is ecological but also sustainable: this is the challenge of the new framework regulation on the Ecolabel. The regulation is a first step. The European Parliament and the Council have carried out profitable and constructive negotiations, at least with regard to aspects concerning chemical substances. It is now the turn of the Commission to develop the criteria established, implement a working plan and define an initial list of products in operational terms within one year. Individual Member States must organise the competent national authorities, liaise with the European body and adopt the sustainability criteria as binding.
What does environmental sustainability mean for the Ecolabel, though? It means applying innovative production criteria throughout the production cycle: from reducing emissions in production methods to reducing the energy consumption of primary assets such as water and locating production centres near end consumers. All this amounts to nothing less than a revolution. This is the challenge demanded of a credible attempt to combat climate change but also a true revolution in manufacturing methods. In order to develop these criteria, the Commission and the new Community body are called upon to ensure the active involvement of leading operators and best practices, so that they can make use of innovations tried and tested by these operators during their manufacturing cycles and thus make them accessible and transparent.
Respect for social working standards is an integral part of these criteria, even though the regulation still contains a legislatively unacceptable term due to incomprehensible pressure by the Council in the final negotiations. The term used is ‘if appropriate’: in sustainable development, social clauses and regular work cannot be an option applied only ‘if appropriate’. The exclusions to be applied to the ecological quality label for products that still contain toxic chemical substances, that are harmful to the environment, that are carcinogenic or that are damaging for reproduction are, however, clear and effective. But on a note of caution: the European Parliament’s control over this will be particularly unbending."@en1
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