As much by conviction as driven by the Community and international calendars, France has placed the environment, and more specifically the energy-climate change dossier, at the heart of its priorities. The objective is to reach an agreement at first reading by the end of 2008, with a definitive vote at the European Parliament’s plenary session in December, or in January 2009 at the latest. This is a real challenge given the complexity of the dossier, but one which is not impossible considering the fact that the Slovenian Presidency “made a good job of clearing all the obstacles,” acknowledged a French diplomatic source.

Paris also added two other dossiers to its list of environmental priorities, namely sustainable consumption and production and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

A PIVOTAL YEAR

2009 will be a pivotal year for the EU: elections for the European Parliament in June and the renewal of the European Commission in November, and on the international stage the United Nations Conference on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, for which the parties have committed to reach an agreement on a combined action plan with regard to climate change and the regime which will succeed the Kyoto Protocol post-2012 by the end of 2009 at the latest in Copenhagen.

Four proposals are on the table: the revision of the Emission Trading System (ETS), the sharing of burdens between member states for non-ETS sectors, carbon capture and storage, and renewable energies. The first three come from the Environment Council, and the last from the Energy Council. The French Presidency will continue the work on the basis of a progress report and texts with amendments and footnotes which are being prepared by the Slovenian Presidency following the orientation debate by the Environment and Energy Councils of 5 and 6 June, which allowed the most delicate points of the future negotiation to be identified, among others (see Europolitics3545 and 3547).

Moreover, Paris hopes that a Council-Parliament agreement will be able to weigh in at second reading – for the parliamentary session in July 2008, at the latest – under the Slovenian Presidency with regard to the proposal for a directive aimed at integrating the airline sector into the ETS: it has been said that this would mean “rescuing it from a difficult situation”.

CO ₂ EMISSIONS FROM CARS AND BIOFUELS

The Presidency will also apply pressure to conclude, as soon as possible, two dossiers which do not form part of this ‘package’ but which are connected to it, namely the draft regulation aimed at defining new CO ₂ emission standards for cars and the draft Fuel Quality Directive. The first will be the subject of a discussion by the 27 member states during the informal meeting of ministers scheduled from 3 to 5 July. The second will closely depend on the progress achieved on the draft Directive on renewable energy and more specifically on the definition of sustainability criteria. If the ad hoc group created by the Slovenian Presidency were to agree on this point, it would allow the Fuel Quality Directive to be unblocked, says a Paris source.

IPPC AND EURO VI STANDARDS

Lastly, even if the association is less obvious – although real – with the energy-climate change dossier, the French Presidency intends to work relentlessly, on the one hand on the revision of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPC – COM(2007)844 of 21 December 2007) and, on the other hand, on the Euro VI standards for heavy vehicles (COM(2007)851 of 21/12/2007). The latter dossier is considered “of little conflict,” and the French hope to be able to conclude it by the end of the year. Paris would also like to at least initiate the debate on proposals for directives relating to the revision of national emission ceilings (NEC Directive) and waste electrical and electronic equipment: the Presidency notes, however, that for this it is dependent on the calendar of the Commission, which has still not put on the table the necessary legislative proposals.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The second line of work of the French Presidency is sustainable production and consumption. If the work basis will be the Commission’s communication on the revised sustainable development strategy 2006, the Presidency will also be dependent on the Commission, from which a series of texts is expected in June: an ‘umbrella’ communication on sustainable production and consumption, a kind of synthesis of the proposals which will constitute this ‘package’, a communication possibly accompanied by a legislative proposal on ‘green’ public markets, proposals for the revision of legislative texts relating to EMAS ecolabel, the eco-conception of products and the ecological labelling of products. The French Presidency hopes to at least launch the debate, but specifies that it is necessary to think in terms of a ‘trio of Presidencies’. In other words, the main aspects of work on these subjects will fall to the Czech and Swedish Presidencies.

GMOS

The final – but by no means the least complex – line of work concerns genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The day before the Environment Council of 5 June, France submitted to member states a reflection document on the implementation of Community regulations relating to the evaluation and authorisation of GMOs, methods, procedures in force within the European Food Safety Authority and relations between this agency and member states (3546). The Council took note of this, but the real kick-off to the debate will be given during the informal ministerial session on 3-5 July. Moreover, the Presidency is planning to organise a major conference on this theme, in Paris at the end of October 2008.

The Slovenian Presidency “made a good job of clearing all the obstacles,” acknowledged a French diplomatic source