Consultative Forum meets to discuss next steps.
The Consultative Forum will meet on March 3 and 4, 2004 to discuss what type of actions and recommendations should be considered in the EU Action Plan on Environment and Health (2004-2010).
The agenda and papers for the meeting (available only 8 days before the meeting) include approximately 800 pages of recommendations put forward by the nine Technical Working Groups.
The recommendations cover primarily the actions needed to set up a integrated European environment and health monitoring system and areas where more research is needed.
Many of the NGO stakeholders on the Consultative Group, including the EPHA Environment Network (EEN), are concerned that these recomendations will not include preventative, precautionary actions that can be undertaken in the short-term.
To ensure a broad consultation with its membership and adequate time for response, a formal response from EEN will be finalised during the month of March.
A second stakeholder meeting, open to the public, will be held in Brussels on March 19, 2004.
EU action plan
The European Commission plans on presenting an EU action for the next six years on 19 June, in time to launch it during the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in Budapest, 23-25 June, 2004.
