§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Prime Minister what recent representations she has received on the need for Europwide environmental co-operation.
§ The Prime MinisterI and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment are in regular contact with our European counterparts and play an active part in developing constructive Europewide co-operation on a broad range of environmental matters.
At the Environment Council on 28 November we supported the creation of a European Environment Agency to improve the quality of environmental information across Europe. The agency will be established initially on a European Community basis, but will subsequently be open to wider European participation.
The United Kingdom is playing an active role in preparations for the ministerial conference on sustainable development to be held in Bergen in May 1990 under the auspices of the United Nations Commission for Europe and we hosted an international preparatory workshop in 24 to 26 September.
My hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Transport chaired the special session of the European conference of Ministers of Transport on 23 November, at which Ministers agreed on the need for environmentally sustainable transport policies.