Liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,
liebe Interessierte,
aus der europapolitisch gut sortierten Presse war zuletzt zu entnehmen, dass die europäische Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie für Chemikalien maßgeblich durch die Generaldirektion für Industriethemen der EU-Kommission (DG GROW) abgeschwächt werden könnte. Zusammen mit meinen Kolleginnen Maria Arena (Sozialdemokraten) und Frédérique Ries (Liberale) habe ich diesbezüglich Briefe an die Kommission geschrieben. Adressaten waren die Kommissare Sinkevičius (zuständig für DG ENVI) und Breton (zuständig für DG GROW) sowie Kommissions-Vizepräsident Timmermans (zuständig für den europäischen Green Deal). Wir fordern sie auf, nicht zuzulassen, dass die Vorschläge von DG GROW die Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie für Chemikalien untergraben und laden Exekutiv-Vizepräsident Timmermans in den Ausschuss für Umweltfragen, öffentliche Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit des Europäischen Parlaments ein, um das Thema mit ihm zu diskutieren. Unsere drei Briefe sind unten angehängt.
Momentan verhandeln DG GROW und sein umweltpolitischer Gegenpart, DG ENVI, die kommissionsinterne Position zur Chemikalienstrategie. Die von DG GROW vorgebrachten Vorschläge untergraben die Prioritäten von DG ENVI bezüglich der Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie für Chemikalien in schwerwiegender Weise. Sollte die Position von DG GROW die finale Version der Strategie dominieren, würde dies in gefährlicher Weise das Narrativ ändern und viele Ambitionen des europäischen Green Deals komplett konterkarieren. Die ökonomische Zukunft und der Wettbewerbsvorteil der europäischen Chemieindustrie wird nur grün sein.
Maria Arena, Frédérique Ries und ich waren Ko-Schattenberichterstatter für die starke Resolution des Europäischen Parlaments zur Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie für Chemikalien. Der Text der Resolution findet sich hier: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-9-2020-0222_DE.pdf
Mit grünen europäischen Grüßen
Sven Giegold
P.S.: EINLADUNG zur Online Konferenz: “Europäische Chemiewende – nachhaltig, wettbewerbsfähig, schadstofffrei” am Dienstag 1. September, 10 – 12:30 Uhr. Gemeinsam mit meiner Fraktionskollegin Jutta Paulus werden wir unsere Prioritäten für eine nachhaltige Chemikalienpolitik diskutieren mit EU-Umweltkommissar Virginijus Sinkevičius und Vertretern von BASF, Zivilgesellschaft und weiteren Gästen. Seid dabei und meldet Euch gleich hier an: Zur Anmeldung.
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Unser Brief an Exekutiv-Vizepräsident Timmermans:
Dear Vice President,
We are writing to you as co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability. We are reaching out to you in the light of the various press articles published in the past days showing the severe disagreements between the different services in the European Commission, and more especially between DG GROW and DG ENVI on the inter-services negotiations on the Chemical Strategy for sustainability.
We are very worried to see that the elements and comments brought by DG GROW are greatly undermining the priorities defined by DG ENVI for the Chemical strategy for sustainability and underlined on repeated occasions by Commissioner Sinkevičius. We welcome the draft prepared by DG ENVI and expect the final strategy to strike a balance between the positions of the different Commission services’ involved in the drafting of the strategy as well as with the priorities of the European Parliament on the matter, as underlined in its recent resolution of 10 July 2020.
These recent revelations notably show how some priorities that could bring a strong shift towards a better protection of health and the environment in the EU Chemical legislation are particularly threatened. Among these are the notion of a toxic-free hierarchy aiming at prioritizing prevention of harm and safe-by-design innovations, the consideration of the combined exposure to chemicals, the promotion of non-toxic production cycles in the framework of the circular economy, the move toward a more generic assessment of risks, and the reflection around the notion of essential uses.
Should the position of DG GROW be dominant in the final version of the strategy, this would represent a dangerous change of narrative that goes against many ambitions that are strongly promoted in the European Green Deal under your leadership. This goes beyond the issue of chemicals and questions broader objectives of the Green Deal such as the zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment, the new circular economy action plan and the biodiversity strategy. Therefore, the success of the Green Deal will greatly depend on the level of ambition of the Chemical strategy for sustainability and your support will be crucial to balance the internal negotiation between the different services of the Commission.
We would like to kindly invite you for an exchange of views in the ENVI committee in early September to discuss this crucial topic before the final draft of the strategy is adopted. An official invitation will follow soon.
Sincerely yours,
MEP Maria Arena, MEP Frédérique Ries, MEP Sven Giegold
Unser Brief an Kommissar Sinkevičius:
Dear Commissioner,
We are writing to you as co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability. We are reaching out to you in the light of the various press articles published in the past days showing the severe disagreements between the different services in the European Commission, and more especially between DG GROW and DG ENVI on the inter-services negotiations on the Chemical Strategy for sustainability.
We are very worried to see that the elements and comments brought by DG GROW are greatly undermining the priorities defined by DG ENVI for the Chemical strategy for sustainability and underlined on repeated occasions by yourself before the Parliament. We welcome the draft prepared by DG ENVI and expect the final strategy to strike a balance between the positions of the different Commission services’ involved in the drafting of the strategy as well as with the priorities of the European Parliament on the matter, as underlined in its recent resolution of 10 July 2020.
These recent revelations notably show how some priorities that could bring a strong shift towards a better protection of health and the environment in the EU Chemical legislation are particularly threatened. Among these are the notion of a toxic-free hierarchy aiming at prioritizing prevention of harm and safe-by-design innovations, the consideration of the combined exposure to chemicals, the promotion of non-toxic production cycles in the framework of the circular economy, the move toward a more generic assessment of risks, and the reflection around the notion of essential uses.
Should the position of DG GROW be dominant in the final version of the strategy, this would represent a dangerous change of narrative that goes against many ambitions that are strongly promoted in the European Green Deal. This goes beyond the issue of chemicals and questions broader objectives of the Green Deal such as the zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment, the new circular economy action plan and the biodiversity strategy. Therefore, the success of the Green Deal will greatly depend on the level of ambition of the Chemical strategy for sustainability. We therefore ask you to strongly stand by the priorities put forward by DG ENVI in the negotiations with DG GROW so as the essence of the strategy is not lost.
Sincerely yours,
MEP Maria Arena, MEP Frédérique Ries, MEP Sven Giegold
Unser Brief an Kommissar Breton:
Dear Commissioner,
We are writing to you as co-rapporteurs of the European Parliament’s Resolution on the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability. We are reaching out to you in the light of the various press articles published in the past days showing the severe disagreements between the different services in the European Commission, and more especially between DG GROW and DG ENVI on the inter-services negotiations on the Chemical Strategy for sustainability.
We are very worried to see that the elements and comments brought by DG GROW are greatly undermining the priorities defined by DG ENVI for the Chemical strategy for sustainability and underlined on repeated occasions by Commissioner Sinkevičius. We welcome the draft prepared by DG ENVI and expect the final strategy to strike a balance between the positions of the different Commission services’ involved in the drafting of the strategy as well as with the priorities of the European Parliament on the matter, as underlined in its recent resolution of 10 July 2020.
These recent revelations notably show how some priorities that could bring a strong shift towards a better protection of health and the environment in the EU Chemical legislation are particularly threatened. Among these are the notion of a toxic-free hierarchy aiming at prioritizing prevention of harm and safe-by-design innovations, the consideration of the combined exposure to chemicals, the promotion of non-toxic production cycles in the framework of the circular economy, the move toward a more generic assessment of risks, and the reflection around the notion of essential uses.
Should the position of DG GROW be dominant in the final version of the strategy, this would represent a dangerous change of narrative that goes against many ambitions that are strongly promoted in the European Green Deal. Therefore, the success of the Green Deal will greatly depend on the level of ambition of the Chemical strategy for sustainability. We hereby ask you for a reaction on these elements concerning the inter-services negotiation on the Chemical Strategy for sustainability. Can you guarantee that you and the services under your responsibility will work in cooperation with other Commission’s services for the Chemical Strategy to be a true game changer that champions together safe and innovative industries rather than polluting ones, as well as health and the environment?
Sincerely yours,
MEP Maria Arena, MEP Frédérique Ries, MEP Sven Giegold