EEB says that sustainable development should be “the overarching goal of the European Union, one that ensures that the Union can continue to exist, bring prosperity to its citizens and be a positive force for progress in the wider European region and worldwide”. As sustainable development meets strong resistance and difficulties, EEB sees it as an essential task for the President of the Commission to himself lead this process, have a Commission with a strong mandate on his side, and a Task Force within the Commission of all relevant Commissioners to implement a “EU Sustainable Development Strategy” the Commission needs to develop.
According to John Hontelez, Secretary General of the EEB, “Mr. Prodi is having innovative ideas about how the new Commission should work, in particular to promote economical and political integration. Sustainable Development however he considers apparently as a minor issue, which he classifies as an element of ‘micro-economic policies’ in his speech in the European Parliament in May. This is totally wrong.”