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The Future of the Cardiff process

5 Strengthening the environmental element of the EU SDS

5.1 The EU SDS policy cycle

In considering options to strengthen the environmental dimension of the EU SDS, it is necessary first to consider the policy cycle under the Lisbon Process in relation to developing and reviewing economic and employment/social policies This cycle consists of the following stages:

The establishment of overarching strategies – the Stability and Growth Pact in the case of Member States’ economic and budgetary policies, and the European Employment Strategy in respect of labour market policies;

Annual reporting to the Commission by Member States on their performance in relation to these strategies and associated guidelines;

An assessment of Member States’ implementation by the relevant Commission directorates-general;

The production by the Commission’s Secretariat-General of the annual synthesis report to the Spring European Council (the ‘Spring Report’), reviewing progress and making proposals for future action. It includes a review of a limited number of structural indicators (chosen by DG EcFin) covering economic, social/employment, and environmental trends. The draft of the synthesis report is developed from October- December each year, and is agreed by the Commission and published in January.

The conclusions of the Spring European Council, taking into account the synthesis report and conclusions from relevant Councils;

On the basis of these conclusions, the drafting by DG EcFin of the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs) and by DG Employment and Social Affairs of the Employment Guidelines that Member States should follow. These are then considered and endorsed by the appropriate Council. Guidelines are currently produced on an annual basis, although the Commission has recently proposed a three-year cycle.12

Although in principle the Spring Report should give as much attention to environment as to economic and employment policies, it has been argued above that the environmental input into the report has so far been limited. This is not surprising, as it can be seen from the foregoing that several steps in the above cycle do not apply to the environment or environment-related policies, and to redress the balance, the following ‘gaps’ need to be filled.

5.2 An overarching EU environmental road map

The Sixth Environmental Action Programme (6EAP) sets a 10-year, legally-binding framework for the EU’s environmental policy and its sectoral integration objectives.

It has now been supplemented by the relevant conclusions of the Göteborg European Council, and the environmental aspects of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. In the future, the 6EAP’s seven Thematic Strategies will also produce programmes requiring action from a number of formations of the Council.

Annex II to this report pulls together these commitments, which together amount to an overarching environment strategy or ‘road map’ comparable with those addressing economic and employment policies. Chapter 3 also discusses some elements of the integration of these commitments into Council strategies. Taken together this would be a more appropriate and co-ordinated framework for environmental integration activities than the separate strategies produced thus far by sectoral Councils themselves under the current Cardiff process.

5.3 Further elements for integrating the environment into the SDS

Annual Council reports on performance

As discussed above, the principal focus for reporting on environment-related policies should be the sectoral Councils rather than Member States (although in areas where the EU’s environmental competence is limited – as in transport or spatial planning – consideration could also be given to establishing a system of reporting by Member States). These reports would review how far each Council had taken forward relevant commitments in the EU’s overall environmental road-map. As an exercise focused on the Council, it would be appropriate for the exercise to be co-ordinated by the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), rather than by DG Environment.

Annual Implementation Report from DG Environment

The annual reports from sectoral Councils, together with appropriate input from the European Environment Agency, could form the foundations for an annual report from DG Environment reviewing environmental performance. The report could highlight key issues and indicators to be addressed in the Spring report, and make recommendations in relation to sectoral integration. In this way, the report, which was explicitly called for by the December 2001 Environment Council, would 'balance' similar reports on economic and employment policies from DGs EcFin and Employment. The report could also inform the development by the GAERC of the triennial strategy for the Council and the annual operating programmes for each of its formations.

Unfortunately, it appears that DG Environment is not producing such a report for 2002, but this possibility should be considered for future years.

It is of key importance that an annual environment report appears sufficiently early to influence the choice of environmental indicators to be considered at the following Spring summit, and the wider content of the Spring report. In this context, it was unfortunate that the Commission's October 2002 Communication on Structural Indicators for the 2003 Spring Summit¹³ was published the day before the Environment Council called for the inclusion of two new indicators of considerable environmental significance (relating to fisheries and nature protection). In the event the GAERC has lent its weight to suggested changes from the Environment Council and other formations, so the Commission may yet make some changes. This addition was also supported by the Ecofin Council and the Council responsible for Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs in their recent conclusions on structural indicators for the 2003 spring report.

Guidelines to sectoral Councils

On the basis of the conclusions of the Spring Council, DG Environment should produce draft integration guidelines for each relevant formation of the Council, by analogy to the economic and employment guidelines. These would be agreed by the Environment Council in June each year, and issued at the same time as the BEPGs and the Employment Guidelines.

Greater Council involvement

Given the significance of the synthesis report for the development of the EU's Sustainable Development Strategy, there is a need for greater involvement in its production by the other EU institutions. The European Parliament is proposing to examine the draft synthesis report in a debate each February, following a Resolution tabled on 27 February 2002 by Environment Committee chair Caroline Jackson.

Similarly, the GAERC should review and possibly amend the synthesis report before it is considered by the Spring Summit, so that it is no longer a document from the Commission alone. How this would work in practice should be addressed in the new Inter-institutional agreement currently being developed between the Commission, the Council and the Parliament.

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