6 Financial Instrument for the Environment
(LIFE)
| (26004)
13071/04
COM(04) 621
+ ADD1
| Draft Regulation concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE)
Commission Staff Working Document on a draft Regulation concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE)
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| Legal base | Article 175(1)EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 29 September 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 11 October 2004
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 21 October 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information awaited
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Background
6.1 The Commission's Environment Directorate runs a number of
programmes, one of which —
the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE) —
currently has three strands. The first of these (Environment)
has supported demonstration projects, with particular emphasis
on innovative technologies; the second (Nature) has supported
the implementation of Community nature conservation policy, particularly
Natura 2000; whilst the last element (Third Countries) has funded
technical assistance activities in countries bordering the Mediterranean
and Baltic Seas which have signed association agreements with
the Community. The current LIFE Regulation runs until the end
of 2006, and, in this document, the Commission has proposed a
new Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+) for the period
1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013.
The current proposal
6.2 The Commission says that the general objective
of LIFE+ is to contribute to the development and implementation
of Community environment policy and legislation, as a means of
helping to promote sustainable development, and that it will in
the process support the implementation of the Sixth Environmental
Action Programme in meeting such key objectives as combating climate
change, halting the decline in biodiversity, improving the quality
of life and ensuring the sustainable use and management of resources.
6.3 In particular, the new Programme would have two
components — Implementation and Governance (which will receive
75-80% of the proposed financial allocation) and Information and
Communication (which will receive the remaining 20-25% allocation)
— and would be established on a multi-annual basis, with
detailed annual programmes open to public and private bodies,
including national, regional and local authorities and non-governmental
organisations. The Information and Communication component would
disseminate information, raise awareness on environmental issues,
and provide support for accompanying measures (such as campaigns
and conferences), whilst that concerned with Implementation and
Governance would:
- contribute to the development
and demonstration of innovative policy approaches and instruments;
- contribute to consolidating the knowledge base
for the development, assessment, monitoring and evaluation of
environmental policy and legislation;
- support the design and implementation of approaches
to monitoring and assessment of the state of the environment and
the drivers, pressures and responses which impact on it;
- facilitate the implementation of Community environment
policy, with a particular emphasis on implementation at local
and regional level; and
- provide support for better environmental governance,
broadening stakeholder involvement, including that of non-governmental
organisations, in policy consultation and implementation.
6.4 To that extent, the new Programme would continue
the basic objectives and scope of the present LIFE Programme,
but there would be two important differences. First, many of
the activities under LIFE Environment will, in future, be integrated
into the Community's competitiveness framework programme, whilst
activities under LIFE Third Countries will be funded under the
external assistance instrument. Likewise, although LIFE+ would
continue to be applicable to certain actions related to Natura
2000, it is proposed that active management of the Natura 2000
sites should in future be eligible for co-funding from structural
and rural funds.
6.5 On the other hand, in order to provide a single
set of rules and decision-making and financing procedures, more
consistent policy targeting and a reduction in administrative
overheads, the Commission has proposed that many of the Environment
Directorate's current programmes should, in future, be merged
within the single LIFE+ instrument. This approach would include
the Sustainable Urban Development Programme (which provides financial
and technical support to networks of local authorities to encourage
exchange and implementation of good practice at the local level
of Community environmental legislation and sustainable urban development);
the NGO Programme (which provides financial assistance for non-governmental
organisations involved in contributing to the development and
implementation of Community environmental policy and legislation
in different regions of Europe); and the Forest Focus Programme
(which covers the monitoring and protection of forests against
atmospheric pollution and fires, and monitoring of biodiversity,
climate change, carbon sequestration, and soils).
The Government's view
6.6 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 21 October 2004,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Farming, Foods and
Sustainable Energy) at the Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty) says that the UK broadly agrees with
the general objectives of LIFE+, welcomes the simplification which
a single financial instrument for the environment would provide,
and believes that what is now proposed takes into account past
evaluations of the various programmes. However, he adds that
the details of the programme are not yet clear, and that the UK
will be particularly concerned to ensure that actions eligible
under this measure cannot be funded under other Community financial
instruments. He also says that, during the development of the
detail of the programme, the UK would like the criticisms of the
present LIFE programme to be addressed, including the programme's
concentration on the implementation (as opposed to the development)
of policy, and the need for an improvement in the dissemination
of results. It will also seek to ensure that effective means of
monitoring and evaluating value for money are incorporated into
the programme.
6.7 Finally, the Minister comments that the financial
framework of €2,190 million set for seven-year duration of
the programme is large in comparison with current expenditure,
and that it will in any case not be possible to agree the budget
until the over-arching negotiations on the new Financial Perspective
have been agreed. In particular, he once again reiterates the
need for any provision to be consistent with the view taken by
the UK and others of the need to stabilise the Community's budget
at 1% of the Community's Gross National Income, and the extent
to which the total level of funding agreed could affect the balance
of priorities within the programme.
Conclusion
6.8 Since LIFE is a longstanding programme, which
has operated with UK support in an important area of Community
policy, its extension for a further period does not give rise
to any major points of principle. Nevertheless, the inter-relationship
between what is now proposed and other areas of activity, and
in particular other sources of Community funding, is complex,
and —
as with other proposals which the Commission has put forward recently
—
the position is further complicated by discussions on the Community's
budgetary ceiling under the new Financial Perspective. For that
reason, we are holding the document under scrutiny, pending further
clarification on these points.
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