Development of the integration process
16. The idea of integrating environmental considerations
into EU policies is not new. The need for integration at all levels
has been recognised for some time. The objective was introduced
initially in the Single European Act in 1986. Article 130R, within
the Environmental Title, stated that "Environmental protection
requirements shall be a component of the Community's other policies."
Integration also received priority in the EU's Fifth Environmental
Action Programme (5th EAP) which was launched in 1992 for the
period to 2000 in parallel with the Rio Earth Summit.[13]
17. The Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht
Treaty), which came into force on November 1993, had as a principal
objective the promotion of "a harmonious and balanced development
of economic activities, sustainable and non-inflationary growth
respecting the environment."[14]
However, the key driver for recent discussions on environmental
integration has been The Treaty of Amsterdam which was agreed
in October 1997 and came into force on
1May 1999.
18. A specific, free-standing clause (Article 6)
was included stating that "environmental protection requirements
must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the
Community policies and activities... in particular with a view
to promoting sustainable development." The Treaty therefore
established sustainable development as one of the objectives of
the EU and an overarching task of the Community. Article 2 of
the Treaty also referred to sustainable development in similar
terms to the Maastricht Treaty with the key difference being that
the reference was placed as an overarching objective rather than
in a specific Title. Article 2 states that "The Community
shall have as its task... to promote throughout the Community
a harmonious, balanced and sustainable development of economic
activities... sustainable and non-inflationary growth... a high
level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment..."
19. The UK Presidency in 1998 sought to translate
the fine words of Article 6 of the Amsterdam Treaty into some
tangible action. The Cardiff European Council (June 1998) invited
all relevant formations of the Council of Ministers to establish
their own strategies for giving effect to environmental integration
and sustainable development within their respective policy areas.
Three sectoral Councils (Transport, Energy and Agriculture) were
invited to start the process (now dubbed the "Cardiff process"),
in which the "green baton" is to be passed along successive
Presidencies, and to provide initial reports to the Vienna Summit
in December 1998. Heads of Government also endorsed the principle
that major Commission policy proposals should be accompanied by
an appraisal of their environmental impact.
20. Subsequent European Councils have done little
more than add further sectoral Councils to the list of those required
to produce integration strategies. At the request of the Vienna
Summit in December 1998, the Commission submitted a progress report[15]
on the mainstreaming of environmental policy to the Cologne Summit
in June 1999. This included an up-date on action within the Commission.
21. The Helsinki Summit in December is
expected to evaluate a number of key programmes and policies related
to sustainable development and integration:
— Heads of Government are expected to review
the overall progress on integrating the environment in order to
link the sectoral, integration strategies developed by the various
formations of the Council of Ministers. (Across these strategies
the Commission has suggested that the cross-cutting issues of
climate change, trade & environment, and health issues should
be the focus of discussions);[16]
— Transport, Agriculture and Energy Councils
will submit integration strategies. Development, Internal Market
and Industry Councils are also expected to submit preliminary
strategies;
— a report on the progress of headline
indicators for environmental integration and the integration indicators
for individual Councils is expected to be submitted to the European
Council together with a draft report on trends against transport
indicators produced by the EEA in co-operation with Eurostat;[17]
and
— a Global Assessment of the 5th
Environmental Action Programme will be presented by the Commission.
22. The key events in the development of the integration
process are presented in the table below.
13 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED),
Rio, Brazil, 1992 Back
14 Article
G, Treaty on European Union, amending Article 2 of The Treaty
establishing the European Economic Community. [http://eurolandia.tin.it/euro/eng/documenti/documentazione/4/maas.htm]
Back
15 SEC
(1999) 777 final, The Cologne Report on Environmental Integration:
Mainstreaming of environmental policy, Commission working paper
addressed to the European Council, 26 May 1999. Back
16 Ev
p. 44 paragraph 11 Back
17 Ev
p. 47 paragraph 36 Back
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