Green groups slam European Commission work between 2004-2009
Monday, 15 June 2009 16:35 | 
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A coalition including Climate Action Network, Greenpeace and WWF called the ‘Green 10’ coalition, has slammed the lack of progress made on environmental policy by the European Commission over their five year term, under the guidance of Commission President José Manuel Barroso in a report released last week. In a damning verdict, the group gave the outgoing Commission 4.4 out of 10 for its environmental performance, despite the adoption of the energy and climate change package last December.
The Commission’s work on climate policy was in fact one of the few areas to escape criticism, with the package being praised as “a remarkable achievement” and “a clear milestone”. In general, the group of environmental organisations was far more scolding of the work undertaken by the Commission during this time frame, giving the work achieved on EU sustainable development strategy a miserly 2 out of 10.
In other areas the Green 10 charged the Commission with continuing to fail in protecting Europe’s animal and wildlife, suggesting that the target of halting biodiversity loss in the EU by 2010 was now becoming an increasingly impossible target. The report is also critical of the work achieved on restoring the fishing stocks of EU’s depleted seas, whilst environmental protection under the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) continuing to be underfunded.
As part of the report, the coalition also outlined a ‘to-do’ list for the Commission’s next term, with a number of priorities and targets set out for the new legislature to follow up on. Amongst these were calls for phasing out subsidies for fishing fleets and fossil fuels, phasing away from the regional policy of road building and increasing EU emission reductions to 40% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. A major budget reform was also needed according to Green 10, with much more attention needed on ensuring sustainable development
Whilst Mr Barroso was also criticised for his leadership of the executive body during his tenure as Commission President, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas received a much more positive appraisal. The report noted how ‘after five years of Barroso, Europe is still on the road to environmental degradation’, but John Hontelez, the chief of the European Environmental Bureau called Mr Dimas a ‘committed environment Commissioner’, who ‘saw dialogue and working with environmental organisations as necessary and constructive’.
The Commission’s work on climate policy was in fact one of the few areas to escape criticism, with the package being praised as “a remarkable achievement” and “a clear milestone”. In general, the group of environmental organisations was far more scolding of the work undertaken by the Commission during this time frame, giving the work achieved on EU sustainable development strategy a miserly 2 out of 10.
In other areas the Green 10 charged the Commission with continuing to fail in protecting Europe’s animal and wildlife, suggesting that the target of halting biodiversity loss in the EU by 2010 was now becoming an increasingly impossible target. The report is also critical of the work achieved on restoring the fishing stocks of EU’s depleted seas, whilst environmental protection under the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) continuing to be underfunded.
As part of the report, the coalition also outlined a ‘to-do’ list for the Commission’s next term, with a number of priorities and targets set out for the new legislature to follow up on. Amongst these were calls for phasing out subsidies for fishing fleets and fossil fuels, phasing away from the regional policy of road building and increasing EU emission reductions to 40% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. A major budget reform was also needed according to Green 10, with much more attention needed on ensuring sustainable development
Whilst Mr Barroso was also criticised for his leadership of the executive body during his tenure as Commission President, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas received a much more positive appraisal. The report noted how ‘after five years of Barroso, Europe is still on the road to environmental degradation’, but John Hontelez, the chief of the European Environmental Bureau called Mr Dimas a ‘committed environment Commissioner’, who ‘saw dialogue and working with environmental organisations as necessary and constructive’.
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