Press releases
11.December 2002 - 00:00
Parliament and Council agree on giving public more say in environmental planning
(Brussels, 11 December 2002) Parliament and Council have wrapped up an agreement on new legislation designed to give the public more say in planning permission decisions, environmental impact assessment and pollution control rules affecting, for example, new airport terminals and, in some cases, military projects and civil emergency measures.
Parliament's negotiators succeeded in ensuring that, under the package agreement reached this week on a new directive aligning EU environmental legislation with the UN Aarhus Convention's provisions on public participation in environmental decision-making, national defence projects will in future cease to be automatically excluded from the EU environmental impact assessment directive. In exchange, Parliament agreed with Council that plans and projects drawn up under specific environmental directives (e.g. on hazardous waste) should be exempt from the new legislation if they are intended solely for national defence purposes or civil emergencies.
The Parliament delegation, chaired by Charlotte Cederschiöld (EPP-ED, Sweden) also succeeded in inserting a reporting and review clause committing the Commission to consider, in future, extending the directive to more plans and programmes relating to the environment.
Under the deal hammered out by the two sides, which was endorsed unanimously by Parliament's delegation last week and approved by the Conciliation Committee on 10 December, changes to the EU's integrated pollution prevention and control directive will give the public a role in issuing permits for new installations and for substantial changes to installations, and in updating permits where the pollution caused is so great that the limit values need to be changed.
This new directive on public participation in drawing up environmental plans and programmes is the second of three intended to align EU law with the UN 1998 Aarhus Convention. It opens up specific EU directives, including those on batteries and accumulators, hazardous waste and packaging, to public consultation and also amends the directives on environmental impact assessment (EIA) and integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) to give the public a greater role. Rapporteur Eija-Riitta Korhola (EPP-ED, Finland), held out to the end to ensure that the wording of the directive does not fall below the standards of the Aarhus Convention.
The Member States will have to implement the new directive two years after it enters into force. The agreement on its content now has to pass to the full Parliament and to Council for their third readings before it is formally adopted. Parliament's third reading is scheduled for its second part-session in January.
Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EEC.
2000/0331 (COD)
Conciliation Committee
Chair of European Parliament delegation: Charlotte Cederschiöld (EPP-ED, Sweden)
Chair of Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy: Caroline Jackson, EPP-Ed, UK)
Rapporteur: Eija-Riitta Korhola (EPP-ED, Finland)
As soon as it is available, the joint text containing the new legislation will be posted on Parliament's web site http://www.europarl.eu.int/plenary/default_en.htm
under Activities; Plenary sessions; Joint texts approved by the Conciliation Committee
Des qu'il sera disponible, le projet communl contenant la nouvelle législation sera publié sur le site Internet du Parlement Européen sous : Activités; Séances plénières; Projets communs adoptés par le Comité de Conciliation
Press enquiries:
Mary Brazier: Tel, Brussels: 32.(0)2.284.26.72
email: mbrazier@europarl.eu.int.
(Brussels, 11 December 2002) Parliament and Council have wrapped up an agreement on new legislation designed to give the public more say in planning permission decisions, environmental impact assessment and pollution control rules affecting, for example, new airport terminals and, in some cases, military projects and civil emergency measures.
Parliament's negotiators succeeded in ensuring that, under the package agreement reached this week on a new directive aligning EU environmental legislation with the UN Aarhus Convention's provisions on public participation in environmental decision-making, national defence projects will in future cease to be automatically excluded from the EU environmental impact assessment directive. In exchange, Parliament agreed with Council that plans and projects drawn up under specific environmental directives (e.g. on hazardous waste) should be exempt from the new legislation if they are intended solely for national defence purposes or civil emergencies.
The Parliament delegation, chaired by Charlotte Cederschiöld (EPP-ED, Sweden) also succeeded in inserting a reporting and review clause committing the Commission to consider, in future, extending the directive to more plans and programmes relating to the environment.
Under the deal hammered out by the two sides, which was endorsed unanimously by Parliament's delegation last week and approved by the Conciliation Committee on 10 December, changes to the EU's integrated pollution prevention and control directive will give the public a role in issuing permits for new installations and for substantial changes to installations, and in updating permits where the pollution caused is so great that the limit values need to be changed.
This new directive on public participation in drawing up environmental plans and programmes is the second of three intended to align EU law with the UN 1998 Aarhus Convention. It opens up specific EU directives, including those on batteries and accumulators, hazardous waste and packaging, to public consultation and also amends the directives on environmental impact assessment (EIA) and integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) to give the public a greater role. Rapporteur Eija-Riitta Korhola (EPP-ED, Finland), held out to the end to ensure that the wording of the directive does not fall below the standards of the Aarhus Convention.
The Member States will have to implement the new directive two years after it enters into force. The agreement on its content now has to pass to the full Parliament and to Council for their third readings before it is formally adopted. Parliament's third reading is scheduled for its second part-session in January.
Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council providing for public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment and amending Council Directives 85/337/EEC and 96/61/EEC.
2000/0331 (COD)
Conciliation Committee
Chair of European Parliament delegation: Charlotte Cederschiöld (EPP-ED, Sweden)
Chair of Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy: Caroline Jackson, EPP-Ed, UK)
Rapporteur: Eija-Riitta Korhola (EPP-ED, Finland)
As soon as it is available, the joint text containing the new legislation will be posted on Parliament's web site http://www.europarl.eu.int/plenary/default_en.htm
under Activities; Plenary sessions; Joint texts approved by the Conciliation Committee
Des qu'il sera disponible, le projet communl contenant la nouvelle législation sera publié sur le site Internet du Parlement Européen sous : Activités; Séances plénières; Projets communs adoptés par le Comité de Conciliation
Press enquiries:
Mary Brazier: Tel, Brussels: 32.(0)2.284.26.72
email: mbrazier@europarl.eu.int.