Environment policy in the European Union
“The implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is creating confusion, legal uncertainty, and disproportionate burden for small businesses. Entrepreneurs ask for practical solutions now. Parliament and Member States should approve the suspension of the obligation to appoint authorised representatives in each Member State”, stated SMEunited President Davide Galli.
Today, the European Parliament’s Budget committee supported dedicated funding for the LIFE programme in its position on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) interim report, but in breaking with established practice, failed to endorse strong spending targets for climate and biodiversity.
No Patents on Seeds! have published a representative survey conducted in five EU member states, i.e. France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. The results clearly show that around 80 percent of EU citizens reject the idea of granting patents on living organisms, e.g. patents on plants or animals.
The EU Taxonomy, Europe’s classification system for green activities, is in danger of being weakened, following the Commission’s new criteria review proposal. Several proposed changes miss the target of making the criteria easier and instead open the door to watering some of them down.
With only five months to go before the first parts of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) kick in, the Commission published on 30 March a guidance document and a Frequently Asked Questions document.
Employment in the EU environmental economy increased from 3.6 million full-time equivalents in 2014 to 5.8 million in 2023 (+2.2 million), an average annual growth of 5.5%, according to Eurostat.
WWF welcomes the European Commission’s announcement to cease any further Omnibus packages having concluded that the limits of legislative “simplification” have finally been reached.
