§ Mr. DobbinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the outcome of the Environment Council held in Brussels on 13 and 14 December; and if he will make a statement. [103020]
§ Mr. MeacherI represented the UK at the Environment Council in Brussels on 13 December 1999, accompanied by Sarah Boyack, Scottish Executive Minister for the Environment and Transport. Three common positions were agreed, along with one set of Council Conclusions.
Agreement was achieved on a Recommendation on minimum standards for environmental inspections in member states, and will apply to environmental inspections of installations regulated under Community law. This will help improve standards of environmental protection and contribute to the effective implementation and enforcement of Community law. A common position was also reached on the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive, which requires an assessment of the environmental effects of certain plans and programmes prepared and/or adopted by public authorities.
Ministers discussed several air quality measures and reached agreement on one, establishing limit values for carbon monoxide and benzene in ambient air, to be achieved by 2005 and 2010 respectively. These will provide a high level of protection for public health and the environment and are in line with those adopted by the World Health Organisation in 1996. Agreement on an amendment of the 1998 Large Combustion Plant Directive was not reached. The Commission proposal sets limit values for emissions from new plant. Council could broadly agree to that proposal, but was divided over the suggestion from some member states of extending the directive's requirements to pre-1987 plants. Further negotiations on this, in parallel with those on the National Emission Ceilings Directive, are likely to be continued by the forthcoming Portuguese Presidency. The Presidency also reported on progress on the proposed National Emission Ceilings Directive and a related air quality directive setting target values for ozone in ambient air.
Council Conclusions on the forthcoming negotiations on a proposed Biosafety Protocol set out the EU' s negotiating position for the extraordinary Conference of the Parties taking place in Montreal in January and emphasised the importance of reaching agreement. The recent World Trade Organisation talks in Seattle were 528W discussed over lunch, along with the environmental consequences of the Kosovo conflict and the outcome of the Helsinki European Council.
Further reports to Council were given by the Commission on their proposed work programme for 2000, the review of chemicals legislation initiated in 1998, and its Global Assessment of the 5th Environment Action Programme, on which there was a brief exchange of views.