Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-09-Speech-3-203"
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"en.20080409.23.3-203"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, let me first mention the excellent comments that have been made tonight. The Commission will of course take these into account and put them to good use accordingly.
In its mid-term review, the Commission came to the conclusion that the EU was generally on the right track as regards fulfilling the measures set out in the Sixth Environment Action Programme. If we continue to make progress in these crucial years, we shall be able to carry out the proposals contained in the programme up to 2012. The preparation of the proposals, however, and even their adoption and approval, account for only half of the work required. As has been pointed out tonight, without effective implementation of environmental policy, we will certainly not reach the environmental targets set in the Sixth Environment Action Programme, however well the legislation may have been prepared by the European institutions.
For precisely this reason, I fully share Parliament’s view that greater efforts are needed and sufficient resources must be made available to the Commission to enable us to continue to deal properly with implementation issues. This will allow the Commission to help national authorities to develop those capacities necessary to achieve the results we are aiming for.
The Commission also shares Parliament’s view that it is vitally important to incorporate environmental issues into other policies. As the report makes clear, this integration is crucial in trade policies, since the EU has highly significant economic relations with other countries of the world, and trade has an obvious environmental impact. It is just as important, however, that environmental issues be incorporated into agricultural, regional and transport policy: if the essential funding is provided, Community policies will have a significant effect on the regions of Europe.
The impact study procedure, also established by the Commission, aims to improve the cohesion of Community policies and includes an assessment of all the environmental parameters of our proposals. The Commission would like the European Parliament’s support so that a full assessment of all environmental aspects can be guaranteed during the consideration of proposals by other institutions as well.
Finally, the report highlights the key role of the national, regional and local authorities, as well as of citizens, consumers and businessmen, in attaining the environmental targets set in the EU’s Sixth Environment Action Programme. I assure you that the Commission will do everything it can to raise the programme’s profile and to secure the support of the parties concerned. I am sure that Parliament will assist in these efforts and I hope that the protection of the European environment will be one of the main issues of concern to voters in next year’s elections."@en1
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