Germany leads objection to specific biodiversity goals in the CAP.
A call for specific biodiversity goals to be integrated into the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was abandoned at the insistence of Germany during a meeting of environment ministers in Brussels today.
In its proposal for a biodiversity strategy to 2020, the European Commission had listed several types of biodiversity concerns that should be dealt with under the CAP. But several member states objected to this, saying it prejudged the outcome of ongoing talks among agriculture ministers to reform the CAP.
The Polish presidency of the Council of Ministers put forward a proposal changing the list to theoretical “examples,” but this was still not acceptable to Germany. After several hours of discussion, Germany succeeded in having the entire paragraph on biodiversity objectives for the CAP deleted in the final version approved by ministers. Germany’s environment ministry was under strict orders from its agriculture ministry not to accept any list of possible biodiversity requirements for CAP, according to a source involved in the discussions.
Campaign group BirdLife Europe said the deletion was symptomatic of an overall fear by environment ministers of clashing with ongoing discussions in other Council meetings. The UK was able to water down language on funding for the environmental funding programme Life, saying it prejudges ongoing discussions over the multiannual financial framework. Language on fisheries was also made vaguer.
Ariel Brunner, head of European policy at BirdLife, said the decision was a worrying sign that environmental goals would not be taken seriously in upcoming discussions on agriculture, fisheries and budget reform. “Looking at environment ministers compromising for hours on the protection of what should be the core of their political mandate – biodiversity – is a dangerous preview of the fate of biodiversity left completely in the hands of agriculture ministers,” she said.
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Janez Potočnik, the European commissioner for the environment, issued a statement condemning the deletion of the list, adding that the Commission would continue to push for biodiversity objectives to be made part of the CAP during the reform discussions.
Sulphur limits
Ministers also discussed the Commission’s proposal to introduce stricter sulphur limits for marine fuels used in ships in northern European waters by 2015. The new limit, down to 0.1% from 1.5%, was set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2008 for all ‘sulphur emissions control areas’ (SECAs). There are two such areas in Europe – the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and English Channel.
The Finnish and Estonian environment ministers said the 2015 deadline set by the IMO was not feasible because alternative fuel is not yet available in Baltic ports. “Member states should have the possibility of a transitional phase of five years,” Finnish environment minister Ville Niinisto said. Low-sulphur fuel not being available should be one reason for which derogation would be allowed. Keit Pentus, Estonia’s Estonian environment minister, said she has already informed the IMO that Estonia cannot meet the deadline.
Sweden, which is also concerned about the costs and feasibility of the lower limit, took a slightly different approach. The Swedish environment minister, Lena Ek, said she welcomed a lower limit, but could only accept it if it was applied in all of the EU in 2015, not just in the northern waters. “Transport costs would be significantly lower in southern Europe than in northern Europe,” if the limit was only applied in the SECAs, she said. A similar demand has been made by the parliament’s rapporteur on the issue, Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi.
But many ministers said the proposal should not go further than what the IMO agreement requires. Corrado Clini, Italy’s environment minister, warned that such a move would have a harmful effect on the competitiveness of Mediterranean ship owners because that sea is shared with non-EU countries.
Ministers also adopted conclusions on the Commission’s resource efficiency roadmap, but green groups complained that these were also vague and unambitious. Progress reports on updating the rules on the import and export of dangerous chemicals and major accident hazards involving dangerous substances were also discussed. During lunch, ministers discussed the outcome of the UN climate change summit in Durban with Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action.