The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) has published a letter sharing its views on some of the issues on the agenda of the forthcoming EU Environment Council, taking place in Brussels, 5 March 2018.

Through seven detailed points, the EEB is calling for better implementation of environmental policies around Europe to help create a more sustainable society connected to its citizens.

– Greening the European Semester and the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR)
The EEB calls on the Environment Council to increase the political commitment to greening of the European Semester process, encourage the transition towards a circular economy, support the SDGs, work on the implementation gaps existing in various areas with urgency and encourage processes based on public interests engaging civil society organisations.

– EU strategy on plastics
The EEB calls the Environment Council to support ambitious targets on Single Use Plastics, work on the transformation of plastic packaging to make them all reusable and recyclable by 2030 and force strong decontamination of products before recycling takes place.

– Interface between chemicals, products and waste legislation
The EEB calls the Environment Council to ensure high controls for materials made from recycled waste, work to make chemical content fully transparent and develop EU harmonised end-of-waste criteria.

– Monitoring Framework for the Circular Economy
The EEB calls the Environment Council to support high targets on resource productivity, the development of a more binding, concrete and staged implementation of Green Public Procurement and develop policy measure to increase the amount of recycled materials in Europe.

– CO2 emissions for cars and light freight transport vehicles
The EEB and T&E calls the Environment Council to fasten the agreement on the new proposals so the law can enter force before summer 2019, stenghten the current Zero and Low emission Vehicle bonus and introduce real-world CO2 tests.

– Invasive Alien Species of EU concern
The EEB calls the Environment Council to support the Commission’s proposed Delegated Act, support the expansion of the number of species on the EU’s IAS List and recognise the need of greater resources for the implementation of Regulation.

– EU implementation of the Aarhus Convention
The EEB calls the Environment Council to support the preparation and early adoption of a legislative proposal for the revision of the so-called Aarhus Regulation.