Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-20-Speech-3-054"

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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Madam Vice-President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, we in the Socialist Group are very concerned that no tangible proposals on the environment were forthcoming at the Barcelona Summit. The Barcelona Council was billed as the occasion when the objectives for a new strategy on sustainable development set at Göteborg and Lisbon were to be transformed into specific initiatives. This has not proved the case. Instead, the document on the conclusions contains far too liberal a sprinkling of terms such as reaffirms, highlights or reiterates. In essence, therefore, it remains a declaration of intent. There is no reference to a timetable or to specific action in the short or medium term. It is depressing to survey the meagre offerings we are taking to Johannesburg as far as the environment is concerned. Old habits die hard. Once again, the Barcelona Summit failed to give equal weight to economic, social and environmental concerns. For example, there was no reference to the potential of environmental conservation as a source of employment. Further, in the section on priority actions there is no mention of the promotion of environmentally friendly transport, something the House has repeatedly called for. The Socialist Group welcomes the stated intent of meeting the Kyoto commitments. Nonetheless, we must continue to press for national plans to this end. The example of Spain, which currently holds the Presidency, is particularly serious. It is 23% over the limit for emissions already. This is why we maintain that mere declarations of intent will not help to bring about the Europe of sustainable development. I should like to voice one last concern. The Barcelona Council departed from the balanced combination of policies. We had hoped this would be cast in stone following Lisbon and Göteborg. The document on the conclusions is underpinned by that now obsolete sectoral vision of policies. This runs counter to the longed-for combination of the economic and social and the environmental. Employment, transport, energy and research are all dealt with according to a sectoral approach. The environmental dimension is not built in, which amounts to a step backwards, despite what Mr Prodi said about moving ahead. We should not be regressing. Quite the opposite is needed. We have to be more ambitious and put specific programmes and dates on the table. That is what was lacking at the Barcelona Summit. Mr Jiménez-Beltrán, Director of the European Environment Agency was quite right when he said that the Union would either have to be sustainable or bust."@en1

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