Lobbyists call for green commitment in next EC President

The organisations called for a President “with a proven track record on environment and sustainable development”, and who “will take a determined and ongoing leadership role in the structural integration of environmental objectives into all other EU policies and in the development of a sustainable development strategy for Europe.”

The organisations referred to a recent EU report on the state of the European environment that clearly showed that in key areas so far EU policies are insufficient or even entirely failing to stop deterioration and make progress.

The seven include Birdlife International, Climate Network Europe, European Environmental Bureau, Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth Europe, Friends of Nature International, European Federation for Transport & Environment.

In European Summits following the Amsterdam Treaty, government leaders gave important tasks to the Commission to promote mainstreaming of environmental considerations into all policies of the EU, and by the end of this year the Commission is supposed to come with targets, indicators and timetables to make sustainable development operational.

According to the seven organisations: “Political leadership is essential in bringing environmental policy integration into practice. Political leadership and willingness is needed to overcome the usual resistance against change of policies, narrow sectoral interests, fear that challenging, innovative proposals will not be supported in the highest decision-making levels.”