BETA


2008/2578(RSP) Resolution on the EU strategy for the third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters

Progress: Procedure completed

Legal Basis:
RoP 128-p5

Events

2008/06/12
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2008/05/22
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2008/05/22
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2008/05/22
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

Following the debate which took place during the sitting of 21 May 2008, the European Parliament adopted, by 406 votes favour to 10 with 3 abstentions, a resolution on the EU strategy for the third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in Riga, Latvia from 11 to 13 June 2008. The resolution had been tabled for consideration in plenary by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Parliament urges the EU to take a leading, transparent and constructive role in the negotiations and to contribute actively to the long-term strategic plan of the Convention. This includes the elaboration of a possibly wider scope for the Convention so that sustainable development in all its dimensions is covered by the same principles of transparency, participation and accountability. Members believe that MOP-3 will provide a good opportunity both to review the progress which has been achieved so far and to reflect on future challenges. Securing effective implementation of the Convention should be the key priority for the future.

The Commission and Member States are urged to ensure that the decisions taken at MOP-3 further implement and develop the Convention, and that synergies are created between the Aarhus Convention and the relevant multilateral environmental agreements. They are also urged to ensure that:

-the long-term strategic plan includes provisions to increase the public's awareness of their rights and responsibilities under the Aarhus Convention;

-MOP-3 clarifies the conditions for the entry into force of the amendment on GMOs adopted in 2005 and any future amendments to the Convention, with a view to securing their early implementation;

-predictable, stable and adequate financial arrangements are adopted for the Convention;

-the compliance mechanism is further improved, on the basis of the experience gained;

-work on access to justice continues by ensuring that public authorities at all levels of government are fully aware of their obligations under the Aarhus Convention, and by encouraging public authorities to allocate the human, financial and material resources needed to fulfil their obligations;

-parties take the necessary legal and budgetary measures to guarantee that the third pillar of the Convention is fully implemented, effective remedies are provided for access to justice, and access to procedures is fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive;

-a Working Group is set up to assess the implementation of the public participation pillar of the Convention, if necessary leading to proposals for further improving the Convention.

Parliament goes on to urge the resumption of the legislative work aimed at adopting a legislative instrument which implements Article 9 of the Convention within the European Union, since this last remaining pillar has not been fully transposed into Community law. It welcomes the plan by the Commission to organise a conference on access to justice in June 2008 in order to give further impetus to the legislative work within the Community. It is also important to enhance synergies and links with other relevant international organisations and Conventions, in particular the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. However, the Aarhus Convention is the appropriate forum for deliberating on horizontal principles of public access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters. The Commission is asked to set the public authorities in the Member States a good example by implementing the Aarhus Convention in a rigorous manner.

Parliament urges the countries which have not yet done so to ratify the Aarhus Convention and the Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers, and to encourage other countries outside the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to become parties to the Convention.

Lastly, it believes that Members of the European Parliament who are part of the EC delegation have an essential contribution to make, and therefore expects that they will have access to EU coordination meetings without speaking rights in Riga.

Documents
2008/05/22
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2008/05/21
   EP - Debate in Parliament
Details

Oral Question O-0054/2008 to the Commission on the Commission's strategy for the third meeting of the parties to the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters had originally been scheduled for debate by the House during this sitting. However, as the author of the oral question was absent, the President decided not to take the question.

A motion for a resolution was due to be put to the vote on 22 May 2008.

2008/05/19
   EP - Oral question/interpellation by Parliament
Documents

Documents

Votes

B6-0238/2008 - Convention Aarhus - résolution #

2008/05/22 Outcome: +: 486, -: 10, 0: 3
DE FR PL ES GB IT NL BE HU BG RO PT AT EL IE CZ DK SK FI LT LV SI SE EE MT LU CY
Total
74
46
40
39
41
30
21
17
16
15
15
15
14
13
11
14
10
10
9
8
6
6
12
5
4
5
3
icon: PPE-DE PPE-DE
181

Finland PPE-DE

2
2

Latvia PPE-DE

1

Estonia PPE-DE

For (1)

1

Malta PPE-DE

2

Luxembourg PPE-DE

3

Cyprus PPE-DE

2
icon: PSE PSE
137

Czechia PSE

2

Slovakia PSE

2

Finland PSE

1

Estonia PSE

2

Malta PSE

2

Luxembourg PSE

Abstain (1)

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
71

Hungary ALDE

1

Austria ALDE

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Slovenia ALDE

2

Sweden ALDE

For (1)

1

Estonia ALDE

2

Cyprus ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
35

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

4

Italy Verts/ALE

2

Belgium Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Latvia Verts/ALE

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: UEN UEN
25

Lithuania UEN

2
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
19

France GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Spain GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

2

Portugal GUE/NGL

2

Greece GUE/NGL

1

Czechia GUE/NGL

1

Denmark GUE/NGL

1

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

1
icon: NI NI
19

United Kingdom NI

Against (2)

4

Italy NI

For (1)

1

Bulgaria NI

2

Austria NI

1

Slovakia NI

2
icon: IND/DEM IND/DEM
12

Poland IND/DEM

2

United Kingdom IND/DEM

3

Netherlands IND/DEM

2

Greece IND/DEM

1

Ireland IND/DEM

For (1)

1

Czechia IND/DEM

Against (1)

1

Sweden IND/DEM

2

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

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events/2
date
2008-05-22T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2008-0236_EN.html title: T6-0236/2008
summary
events/2
date
2008-05-22T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
body
EP
docs
url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2008-0236_EN.html title: T6-0236/2008
summary
docs/0/docs/0/url
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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2008-157&language=EN
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docs/1/docs/0/url
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events/2/docs/0/url
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New
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-6-2008-0236_EN.html
activities
  • date: 2008-05-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20080521&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=15070&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-236 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0236/2008 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees
    docs
    • date: 2008-05-19T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2008-157&language=EN title: B6-0157/2008 type: Oral question/interpellation by Parliament body: EP
    • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&reference=B6-2008-238&language=EN title: B6-0238/2008 type: Motion for a resolution body: EP
    • date: 2008-06-12T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=15070&j=0&l=en title: SP(2008)3593/2 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
    events
    • date: 2008-05-21T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20080521&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament summary: Oral Question O-0054/2008 to the Commission on the Commission's strategy for the third meeting of the parties to the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters had originally been scheduled for debate by the House during this sitting. However, as the author of the oral question was absent, the President decided not to take the question. A motion for a resolution was due to be put to the vote on 22 May 2008.
    • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=15070&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
    • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-236 title: T6-0236/2008 summary: Following the debate which took place during the sitting of 21 May 2008, the European Parliament adopted, by 406 votes favour to 10 with 3 abstentions, a resolution on the EU strategy for the third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention in Riga, Latvia from 11 to 13 June 2008. The resolution had been tabled for consideration in plenary by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. Parliament urges the EU to take a leading, transparent and constructive role in the negotiations and to contribute actively to the long-term strategic plan of the Convention. This includes the elaboration of a possibly wider scope for the Convention so that sustainable development in all its dimensions is covered by the same principles of transparency, participation and accountability. Members believe that MOP-3 will provide a good opportunity both to review the progress which has been achieved so far and to reflect on future challenges. Securing effective implementation of the Convention should be the key priority for the future. The Commission and Member States are urged to ensure that the decisions taken at MOP-3 further implement and develop the Convention, and that synergies are created between the Aarhus Convention and the relevant multilateral environmental agreements. They are also urged to ensure that: -the long-term strategic plan includes provisions to increase the public's awareness of their rights and responsibilities under the Aarhus Convention; -MOP-3 clarifies the conditions for the entry into force of the amendment on GMOs adopted in 2005 and any future amendments to the Convention, with a view to securing their early implementation; -predictable, stable and adequate financial arrangements are adopted for the Convention; -the compliance mechanism is further improved, on the basis of the experience gained; -work on access to justice continues by ensuring that public authorities at all levels of government are fully aware of their obligations under the Aarhus Convention, and by encouraging public authorities to allocate the human, financial and material resources needed to fulfil their obligations; -parties take the necessary legal and budgetary measures to guarantee that the third pillar of the Convention is fully implemented, effective remedies are provided for access to justice, and access to procedures is fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive; -a Working Group is set up to assess the implementation of the public participation pillar of the Convention, if necessary leading to proposals for further improving the Convention. Parliament goes on to urge the resumption of the legislative work aimed at adopting a legislative instrument which implements Article 9 of the Convention within the European Union, since this last remaining pillar has not been fully transposed into Community law. It welcomes the plan by the Commission to organise a conference on access to justice in June 2008 in order to give further impetus to the legislative work within the Community. It is also important to enhance synergies and links with other relevant international organisations and Conventions, in particular the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. However, the Aarhus Convention is the appropriate forum for deliberating on horizontal principles of public access to information, participation and access to justice in environmental matters. The Commission is asked to set the public authorities in the Member States a good example by implementing the Aarhus Convention in a rigorous manner. Parliament urges the countries which have not yet done so to ratify the Aarhus Convention and the Protocol on pollutant release and transfer registers, and to encourage other countries outside the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to become parties to the Convention. Lastly, it believes that Members of the European Parliament who are part of the EC delegation have an essential contribution to make, and therefore expects that they will have access to EU coordination meetings without speaking rights in Riga.
    • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
    links
    other
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure EP 128-p5
      procedure/legal_basis/0
      Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 128-p5
      procedure/subject
      Old
      • 3.70 Environmental policy
      • 3.70.16 Law and environment, liability
      • 3.70.18 International and regional environment protection measures and agreements
      New
      3.70
      Environmental policy
      3.70.16
      Law and environment, liability
      3.70.18
      International and regional environment protection measures and agreements
      procedure/subtype
      Old
      Debate or resolution on oral questions
      New
      Debate or resolution on oral question/interpellation
      procedure/subject/1
      Old
      8.40.10 Interinstitutional relations, democratic deficit, subsidiarity, comitology
      New
      3.70.16 Law and environment, liability
      procedure/subject/2
      3.70.18 International and regional environment protection measures and agreements
      procedure/title
      Old
      Commission's strategy for the third meeting of the parties to the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters
      New
      Resolution on the EU strategy for the third Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
      activities
      • date: 2008-05-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20080521&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
      • date: 2008-05-22T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=15070&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P6-TA-2008-236 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T6-0236/2008 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
      committees
        links
        other
          procedure
          reference
          2008/2578(RSP)
          title
          Commission's strategy for the third meeting of the parties to the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters
          legal_basis
          Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 128-p5
          stage_reached
          Procedure completed
          subtype
          Debate or resolution on oral questions
          type
          RSP - Resolutions on topical subjects
          subject