2017/2705(RSP) | [ParlTrack]

Nicola CAPUTO, Renata BRIANO

Recital D

D. whereas the EIR should be a cross- sectorial instrument, able to evaluate the environmental impacts ofin other ~~sector~~areas such as agriculture, fisheries, industry or, transport, forestry, and regional policyies in general;

Amendment 12 #

Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas each summer, in many parts of Europe, hundreds of hectares of forest are maliciously burned down for speculative purposes;whereas, on 30 April 2014, the Commission decided to withdraw the proposal for a directive concerning the protection of soil and there is still no specific legislation on this matter in the EU;

Amendment 13 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Mark DEMESMAEKER

Recital D a (new)

D a. whereas the Commission should aim to achieve better comparability of the data used in assessing Member States' performances.The differences between the data collected in different Member States represent an important obstacle to their comparability and ultimately to the assessment itself;

Amendment 14 #

Recital D a (new)

D a. whereas it is important to involve all competent authorities in the EIR, consistently with the institutional reality of the Member States.In particular, it is important to emphasise that in some Member States regions have full competence in the field of environmental legislation;

Amendment 15 #

Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY

Recital D a (new)

D a. whereas the EIR addressed important parts of EU environmental legislation, but needs to be further expanded to enable the provision of more systematic solutions to challenges posed by sustainable environmental development;

Amendment 16 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Mark DEMESMAEKER

Recital D b (new)

D b. whereas the EIR is a fully complementary tool to other instruments focusing on better implementation such as IMPEL (European Network for Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law) and the "Make it Work" project;

Amendment 17 #

Recital D b (new)

D b. whereas the EIR should be seen as an instrument for political discussion, particularly at ministrerial level, and not only as a technical tool;

Amendment 18 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 1

1. Welcomes the Commission’s initiative to introduce an EIR and recognises its enormous potential, if the right political importance and full transparency will be given to it; the EIR has the potential of putting implementation problems high on the political agenda, to serve as an 'early warning' mechanism for decision makers and to ultimately improve the implementation of European environmental legislation and policy;

Amendment 19 #

Paragraph 1

1. ~~Welcom~~Notes the Commission’s initiative to introduce an EIR and recognises its enormous potential~~, if the right political importance will be given to it;~~; considers that the EIR has the potential tof put~~ting~~ implementation problems high on the political agenda and to ultimately improve the implementation of European environmental legislation ~~and policy~~;

Amendment 2 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Recital A

A. whereas the EU has strong environmental legislation but its weak, inconsistent and defective implementation is a longstanding problem. These implementation gaps threaten sustainable development, have adverse trans-boundary impacts on the environment and human health and entail important socio-economic costs. Moreover, implementation gaps undermine the EU's credibility;

Amendment 20 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 2

Amendment 21 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 2

2. Recalls that the European Parliament has called in several occasions for a more proactive role of the Commission in monitoring, guiding and supporting the implementation of environmental legislation and policy, e.g. on the Nature Directives.Considers that the Commission should act decisively in cases of breach, actively using all legislative measures in use;

Amendment 22 #

Paragraph 3

3. ~~Supports the~~Endorses the Commission's cross- sectorial, multi- stakeholder ~~holistic approach taken by the Commis~~vision, which is key in order to make changes on the ground~~. W~~, and the respect for subsidiarity and local communities in the implementation of European decisions; welcomes the fact that the EIR identifies the root causes of poor implementation and suggests actions to tackle those challenges in a constructive manner;

Amendment 23 #

Paragraph 4

4. Considers that the EIR should be one of the tools used to evaluate progress made by Member States and by the Union towards the achievement of the environmentally relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).In this regard, calls on the Commission to further identify how the implementation of EU environmental legislation also furthers the implementation of relevant SDG goals and the meeting of specific SDG indicators and targets by EU Member States;

Amendment 24 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 4

4. Considers that the EIR should be one of the tools used to create greater coherence with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to evaluate progress made by Member States and by the Union towards the achievement of the environmentally relevant ~~Sustainable Development Goals (~~SDGs);

Amendment 25 #

Paragraph 4

4. Considers that the EIR should be one of the tools used to evaluate progress made by Member States ~~and by the Union~~ towards the achievement of the environmentally relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

Amendment 26 #

Simona BONAFÈ

Paragraph 5

5. Recognises that the EIR can also serve as a prevention tool and thus could lower the amount of infringement procedures. However, stresses that the EIR shall not replace or delay necessary infringement action by the Commission; the approach of fixing a deadline by the Commission before initiating an infringement procedure, should be assessed as an integration to the EIR;

Amendment 27 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 5

5. Recognises that the EIR can also serve as a prevention tool and thus could lower the amount of infringement procedures. ~~However, stresses that the EIR shall not replace or delay necessary infringement action by the Commission;~~

Amendment 28 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 5

5. ~~Recognises~~Welcomes the fact that the EIR can also serve as a prevention tool and thus could lower the amount of infringement procedures. However, stresses that the EIR shall not replace or delay necessary infringement action by the Commission;

Amendment 29 #

Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes that the EIR covers the majority of thematic objectives of the 7th Environmental Action Programme (7th EAP); however regrets that important areas such as climate change, energy efficiency measures and energy savings, chemicals and industrial emissions have not been covered and calls on the Commission to ensure that they are included in future versions; points out that existing data already published by the European Environment Agency could have allowed at least a preliminary analysis of the implementation of climate change legislation, energy efficiency measures and energy savings at both EU and Member State level.

Amendment 3 #

Recital A a (new)

A a. whereas the Commission as the ‘guardian of the Treaties’ has the primary responsibility for enforcing EU laws and should do so more vigorously;

Amendment 30 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes that the EIR covers the majority of thematic objectives of the 7th Environmental Action Programme (7th EAP); however regrets that important areas such as climate change, chemicals, certain waste disposal operations1a with a potential impact on soil, water and public health2a and industrial emissions have not been covered and calls on the Commission to ensure that they are included in future versions;

Amendment 31 #

Paragraph 6

6. Welcomes that the EIR covers the majority of thematic objectives of the 7th Environmental Action Programme (7th EAP); however regrets that important areas such as climate change, chemicals and industrial emissions and some systemic and environment challenges linked to energy, transport, product and regional policies have not been covered and calls on the Commission to ensure that they are included in future versions;

Amendment 32 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Regrets also the failure to address key issues such as hormone and medicine residues in waste water, surface water and groundwater and their effects on drinking water, human health, biodiversity and the (aquatic) environment and calls on the Commission to ensure that they are included in future versions;

Amendment 33 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 6 a (new)

6 a. Highlights the fact that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at global level and the 7th EAP at EU level create a framework for progressive environmental policies that are however continuously under pressure from the promotion of deregulatory policies;

Amendment 34 #

Paragraph 7

~~7. Considers that a stronger link between the EIR and the European Semester would be beneficial to the coherence of the Union action;~~deleted

Amendment 35 #

Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY

Paragraph 7

7. Considers that a stronger link between the EIR and the European Semester would be beneficial to the coherence of the Union action; underlines that insufficient integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas is one of the root causes of implementation gaps of environmental legislation and policy;

Amendment 36 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 7

7. Considers that a stronger link 7. between the EIR and the European Semester would be beneficial to the coherence of the Union action, in particular a closer link between the specific proposals for Member States set out in the EIR and the country specific recommendations;

Amendment 37 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 8

8. Underlines that limited availability of data can result in implementation gaps and difficulties for review of implementation; adds that data comparability is a basic problem which could call into question such methodologies used in comparisons between Member States;

Amendment 38 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 9

9. Stresses the importance of harmonising data and reporting cycles in order to streamline future review processes; calls on the Commission to increase data comparability and to include in future EIRs a specific section to assess the quality of reporting and data provided by Member States under the different Directives; underlines the importance of safe electronic data-sharing in order to facilitate the reporting by Member States, given that the latter often set great store by the confidential nature of the data they are willing to provide to the Commission;

Amendment 39 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 9

9. Stresses the importance of harmonising data and reporting cycles in order to streamline future review processes; calls on the Commission to increase data comparability, without this leading to any additional costs, and to include in future EIRs a specific section to assess the quality of reporting and data provided by Member States under the different Directives; underlines the importance of safe electronic data-sharing in order to facilitate the reporting by Member States;

Amendment 4 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Recital A b (new)

A b. whereas 70 % of EU environmental law is being implemented by regional and local authorities;

Amendment 40 #

Paragraph 10

10. Stresses the importance of supporting qualitative assessment with quantitative targets. In that regards, considers that a better cooperation with the European Environment Agency would help to develop appropriate indicators;deleted

Amendment 41 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Stresses that the review should take into account and assess any serious problems and possible conflicting goals between environmental policies and other sectoral policies, highlighting any misalignments, where they are found, and drawing up proposals to correct them;

Amendment 42 #

Simona BONAFÈ

Paragraph 10 a (new)

10 a. Regrets that the EIR does not include Member States "issue papers" and believes that there should be fewer discretion to Member States to find solutions for a better implementation;

Amendment 43 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 11

11. Underlines that lack of integration of environmental concerns into other policy areas, in particular agriculture and transport, is one of the root causes of implementation gaps of environmental legislation and policy;

Amendment 44 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Underlines that the implementation of environmental law could be improved by a better integration of environmental legislation into other policy areas and by a full application of the precautionary principle;

Amendment 45 #

Paragraph 12

12. Believes that ~~lack of administrative capacity and governance, two~~one of the main causes of defective implementation, derives from ~~a lack of adequate funding as well as to~~ an inefficient use of the available funds by Member States and calls on them for improvement wherever possible;

Amendment 46 #

Paragraph 12

12. Believes that lack of administrative capacity and governance, two of the main causes of defective implementation, partly derives from a lack of adequate funding as well as to an inefficient use of the available funds by Member States and call on them for improvement;

Amendment 47 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN

Paragraph 12 a (new)

12 a. Believes that for the sake of good and strong governance, improved effectiveness, partnership and transparency of public authorities at all levels, a clear division of responsibilities, adequate resourcing, capacity building and better coordination mechanisms are imperative;

Amendment 48 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 12 a (new)

12a. Takes the view that the use of market instruments by Member States, such as a fiscal policy based on the 'polluter pays' principle, is an effective and efficient tool for achieving the goal of full implementation of environmental policy;

Amendment 49 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 12 b (new)

12b. Stresses that investments are a fundamental lever for the implementation of environmental policies;considers it necessary to broaden public investment in the preservation and enhancement of natural resources, in particular with regard to those that are not profitable for private investors;calls on the Commission, to that end, to consider allowing greater budget flexibility for such measures;

Amendment 5 #

Recital B

B. whereas the EU Environmental Implementation Review (“EIR”) and the 28 Country reports have shown once again that implementation of the environmental law in the EU is not homogeneous but varies dramatically between Member States as well as between the different environmental areas; whereas, at the same time, specificities, or even ingrained differences, exist between each of the 28 Member States in terms of the assessment of environmental objectives, public action and the legal context, and it would be unrealistic to try to eliminate them;

Amendment 50 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 13

13. Strongly supports the emphasis given in the EIR to the exchange of best practices and peer-to-peer review and considers that this could help Member States facing difficulties with the implementation of environmental legislation to find innovative solutions~~. In that context, guidelines from the Commission would be helpful~~; considers, nonetheless, that differences do exist between each of the 28 Member States in terms of the assessment of environmental objectives, public action and the legal context, and it would be unrealistic to try to erase those specific national features;

Amendment 51 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 13

Amendment 52 #

Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY

Paragraph 13 a (new)

13 a. Considers that the EIR should include clear and strict timeframes set by the Commission for ensuring implementation of environmental law in Member States;

Amendment 53 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 14

14. Believes that the EIR can also be used as a tool for public information, raising awareness, enhancing public engagement and education on environment policy with benefits for Member States and citizens; in that regard, calls on the Commission to develop a toolbox of measures to assess progress made on environmental performance by Member States, including best practice benchmarking and scoreboard reports, which should be regularly updated and publicly available; calls on the Commission, in addition, to commission audits to assess the quality of all these arrangements and the consistency between environment policy and other policies;

Amendment 54 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 14

14. Believes that the EIR can also be used as a tool for public information, raising awareness, enhancing public engagement and education on environment policy with benefits for Member States and citizens; ~~in that regard, calls on the Commission to develop a toolbox of measures to assess progress made on environmental performance by Member States, including~~calls for best practice benchmarking and scoreboard reports, which should be regularly updated and publicly available;

Amendment 55 #

Daciana Octavia SÂRBU, Simona BONAFÈ, Pavel POC

Paragraph 14

14. Believes that the EIR can also be used as a tool for public information, raising awareness, increasing the involvement of civil society and enhancing public engagement and education on environment policy with benefits for Member States and citizens; in that regard, calls on the Commission to develop a toolbox of measures to assess progress made on environmental performance by Member States, including best practice benchmarking and scoreboard reports, which should be regularly updated and publicly available;

Amendment 56 #

Paragraph 14

Amendment 57 #

Paragraph 14 a (new)

14 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen compliance assurance, including via improving and stepping up efforts in the implementation of the Environmental Liability Directive;

Amendment 58 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 14 a (new)

14 a. Stresses that NGOs and the wider public can also play an important role in promoting better implementation and thereby upholding the rule of law if effective access to justice is available;

Amendment 59 #

Paragraph 15

~~15. Calls on the Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal on environmental inspections in order to accelerate the implementation of environmental laws and standards;~~deleted

Amendment 6 #

Daciana Octavia SÂRBU, Pavel POC, Simona BONAFÈ

Recital B

B. whereas the EU Environmental Implementation Review (“EIR”) and the 28 Country reports have shown once again that implementation of the environmental law in the EU is not homogeneous but varies dramatically between Member States as well as between the different environmental areas; notes, however, that there are common problem areas where implementation is poor throughout the EU and that these often concern the largest environmental health threats, such as air quality and noise pollution;

Amendment 60 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 15

15. Calls on the ~~Commission to come forward with a legislative proposal on~~Member States to conduct environmental inspections in order to ~~accelerat~~improve the implementation of environmental ~~laws and standards~~action;

Amendment 61 #

Nicola CAPUTO, Renata BRIANO

Paragraph 15 a (new)

15 a. In the context of good governance and compliance assurance, calls on the Commission to come forward with a new legislative proposal on minimum standards for access to judicial review, and a revision of the Aarhus Regulation implementing the Convention to Union action to take account of the recent Aarhus Committee Compliance Committee Recommendation;

Amendment 62 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Considers it necessary, within the review mechanism, to take into consideration the differences and specific territorial features of a Member State which presents recognised anomalies;calls on the Commission, therefore, to determine specific goals and strategies for these areas and to provide for its own direct support if necessary;

Amendment 63 #

Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Calls for the Commission to submit a new, consistent and comprehensive legislative proposal regarding soil protection, which should include a 20-year prohibition on building on land which has been cleared by fires;

Amendment 64 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Paragraph 16

16. Calls on the Commission, the competent authorities in the Member States and relevant stakeholder to fully engage in the EIR without delay. Stresses the important role of regional and local authorities; calls on Member States to fully involve them to further engage in the IMPEL network and to promote involvement of local and regional experts in order to ~~better facilitat~~improve the sharing of data, knowledge and best practices as a matter of urgency;

Amendment 65 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 16

16. Calls on ~~the Commission,~~ the competent authorities in the Member States and relevant stakeholder to fully engage in the EIR. Stresses the important role of regional and local authorities; calls on Member States to fully involve them to further engage in the IMPEL network and to promote involvement of local and regional experts in order to better facilitate the sharing of data, knowledge and best practices;

Amendment 66 #

Pavel POC, Simona BONAFÈ, Daciana Octavia SÂRBU

Paragraph 16 a (new)

16 a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to improve the data collection and availability of information, the dissemination of good practices and the involvement of citizens and to consider involving local authorities to a greater extent in the process of defining environmental policy;

Amendment 67 #

Paragraph 17

17. Calls on the competent authorities at the relevant level in the Member States to ~~seiz~~ensure the o~~pportunity of organising implementation dialogues~~rganisation of open and inclusive implementation dialogues, with adequate information provision to and engagement of the public and civil society actors, and calls on the Commission to engage in those dialogues;

Amendment 68 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 17

17. Calls on the competent authorities at the relevant level in the Member States to seize the opportunity of organising implementation dialogues ~~and~~, calls on the Commission to engage in those dialogues and provide tailored support for each Member State and their authorities at local, regional level;

Amendment 69 #

Simona BONAFÈ, Massimo PAOLUCCI, Damiano ZOFFOLI, Elena GENTILE, Renata BRIANO, Nicola CAPUTO

Paragraph 17

17. Calls on the competent authorities at the relevant level in the Member States to seize the opportunity of organising implementation dialogues, by involving also the national parliaments, and calls on the Commission to engage in those dialogues;

Amendment 7 #

Recital C

C. whereas the biennial reporting exercise is very important to show the real situation of the implementation in the Member States but also a regular monitoring would be important; whereas monitoring the consistency of the Commission's policies, from an environmental point of view, is equally important;

Amendment 70 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 17

Amendment 71 #

Paragraph 17

17. Calls on the competent authorities at the relevant level in the Member States to seize the opportunity of organising implementation ~~dialogues and calls on the Commission to engage in those~~ dialogues;

Amendment 72 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 18

18. Welcomes the policy proposals of the Commission on the dedicated framework for the structured implementation dialogue, but considers it imperative to ensure that this process is transparent and involves relevant NGOs and key stakeholders;

Amendment 73 #

Paragraph 18

18. ~~Welcom~~Notes the policy proposals of the Commission on the dedicated framework for the structured implementation dialogue, but considers it imperative to ensure that this process is transparent;

Amendment 74 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 19

19. Welcomes the discussion between the Commission, Member States and stakeholders in the Expert Group 'Greening the European Semester', but considers that an establishment of a specific environmental implementation~~Expert Group~~ group of experts, appointed by all the Member States, could facilitate a structured implementation dialogue in addition to the bi-lateral country dialogues;

Amendment 75 #

Paragraph 19

19. Welcomes the discussion between the Commission, Member States and stakeholders in the Expert Group 'Greening the European Semester', but considers that ~~an establish~~the involvement of a specific environmental implementation Expert Group could facilitate a structured implementation dialogue in addition to the bi-lateral country dialogues;

Amendment 76 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH

Paragraph 20

20. Urges that the issue of implementation should figure as a recurring item in trio-presidency priorities and programmes, be discussed at the Environment Council at least once a year, perhaps through a dedicated Implementation Council and be complemented by another forum where also the Parliament and Committee of Regions are involved. Calls for joined Council meetings to address implementation of ~~horizontal issue~~cross-sectoral, horizontal issues and common challenges, emerging issues with possible cross- border impacts;

Amendment 77 #

Paragraph 20

20. Urges that the issue of implementation should figure as a recurring item in trio-presidency priorities and programmes, be discussed at the Environment Council at least once a year, perhaps through a dedicated Implementation Council and be complemented by another forum where also the Parliament and Committee of Regions are involved.C, in addition to a panel representing civil society; calls for joined Council meetings to address implementation of horizontal issues;

Amendment 78 #

Paragraph 20

20. Urges that the issue of implementation should figure as a recurring item in trio-presidency priorities and programmes, be discussed at the Environment Council at least once a year, perhaps through a dedicated Implementation Council and be complemented by another forum where ~~also~~ the Parliament and the Committee of Regions are also involved~~. C~~; calls for jJoinedt Council meetings to address implementation of horizontal issues;

Amendment 8 #