The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) the 8th March exhorted members of the Competitiveness Council to work to restore the balance between the different objectives of sustainable development.
The EEB is very worried about the recent political trend to highlight ’competitiveness’ as a super-objective, given precedence over social and environmental objectives. In past statements from EU institutions in particular, environmental commitments and aims have been presented as a burden to growth and competitiveness, rather than as the preconditions for sustainability.
’The Spring Council of March 25-26 offers a unique opportunity to strengthen the Cardiff Process on environmental integration into sectoral policies, improving environmental and social performance and enhancing the effectiveness and coherence of existing EU instruments and processes’ said John Hontelez, secretary general of the EEB.
The EEB is particularly concerned about directions in the Commission’s Communication on Some Key Issues in Europe’s Competitiveness - Towards an Integrated Approach and the Draft Input from Competitiveness Council to Spring European Council (EEB analysis attached).
Related links
Letter to Ministers attached.
