A3-0312/91

RESOLUTION

on the impact of the Community's financial instruments on the environment

The European Parliament,

-having regard to its resolution of 9 February 1986 on

agriculture and the environment,

-having regard to its resolution of 22 November 1990 on the

Intergovernmental Conferences in the context of the European

Parliament's strategy for European Union and the draft

amendments to the EEC Treaty contained in paragraph 1 thereof,

-having regard to its opinion of 12 March 1991 on the Commission

proposal for a Council regulation on organic production of

agricultural products and indications referring thereto on

agricultural products and foodstuffs,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Pimenta on

the environmental implications of Community funding of

development in the EC (B3-0232/91),

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary

Control (A3-0312/91),

A.whereas the range of financial instruments of the General

Budget of the European Communities devoted to the environment

is growing; whereas this is a mark of the increasing

importance which the Community attaches to the problem of the

environment,

B.recalling that the principles of the importance of action in

the environmental sphere and the need for common actions on

the environment are laid down in Article 2 of the amendments

to be made to the EEC Treaty under paragraph 1 of the

abovementioned resolution of 22 November 1990,

C.whereas it is necessary to assess the real and lasting impact

of the Community's budgetary measures on the environment,

1.Considers that, taken as a whole, the environmental policy

instruments in the General Budget of the European Communities

should correspond to a single, integrated strategy, in order

to take advantage of synergies and minimize the cost/benefit

ratio;

2. Is convinced that, because of the unitary nature of

environmental policy, budgetary instruments must be:

- subject to an ex ante evaluation, on the basis of priorities

laid down in environmental programmes,

- coordinated in order to achieve a single framework of

interdependent measures,

- subject to an impact assessment and monitoring to ensure

that their goals are achieved;

3. Fears, however, that this approach is not yet effective and

that budgetary resources are still too dispersed over

different fields of action;

4. Therefore calls on the Commission to give joint consideration

to this subject and to submit proposals for legislative

and/or administrative reforms to deal with the deficiencies

detected in the management of several budgetary sectors

connected with environmental policy;

5. Calls on the Commission to provide an annual breakdown, for

example in the preliminary draft budget, of all

appropriations intended for environmental protection and

nature conservation;

6. Calls on the Commission to involve its Directorate-General XI

(Environment) as far as possible in the financial management

of those environment-related budget items which are not the

direct responsibility of DG XI;

7. Is of the opinion that the Commission should provide

financial support for environmental projects only if they

comply with, or are intended to implement, existing Community

environmental legislation;

8. Calls on the Commission to withhold support from a project if

the requisite environmental impact report has not been

carried out and/or if the report indicates that the project

would have a detrimental effect on the environment;

9. Calls for an expansion of the department within Directorate-

General XI (Environment) which is concerned with evaluating

the environmental impact of projects under ENVIREG and other

structural Funds as a means of making such evaluations more

thorough;

10.Calls on the Commission, when next revising the structural

Funds, to apply stricter environmental criteria to

applications for subsidies pursuant to such Funds;

Common agricultural policy

11.Welcomes the Commission's moves to strengthen the regulations

on ecological agriculture, by promoting agricultural

production methods compatible with the requirements of

environmental protection;

12.Notes that this policy will also be pursued in the future,

according to indications contained in the Commission document

on the development and future of the common agricultural

policy;

13.Considers, however, that measures financed by the Commission

under the EAGGF Guidance Section are fragmentary and do not

achieve the necessary 'critical mass', given that the large

volume of funding under the EAGGF Guarantee Section has much

more significant effects on national agricultural systems;

14.Considers therefore that the improvement of land use, in line

with Community environment policy, must in future be a

central aim of the common agricultural policy and calls on

the Commission to propose a plan to ensure that this is the

case;

Structural policy

15.Notes that, as part of the reform of the Structural Funds, a

coherent set of rules has been established to ensure that

structural funding is consistent with environmental policy

and to allow systematic monitoring, assessment and checks on

structural operations, also in terms of environmental

objectives;

16.Calls on the Commission to do its utmost to ensure that these

provisions are actually put into effect;

17.In particular, calls on the Commission to instruct one of its

central departments to coordinate all the structural

financial instruments which have a bearing on the environment

and to ensure that they are coordinated with the specific

instruments for the environment such as ACE, MEDSPA, ACNAT,

NORSPA and the new LIFE instrument, and to incorporate this

approach in the next 'environment' programme to be submitted

by the Commission to Parliament and the Council;

18.Calls finally for physical indicators to be established for

the purposes of monitoring during implementation and

assessment of the cost/benefit ratio of environmental

measures;

Research

19.Calls on the Commission to ensure satisfactory coordination

between research and environment agencies, so that

environmental needs are not subordinate to the needs of

technological research;

Cooperation with third countries

20.Calls on the Commission to carry out an assessment of the

appropriations earmarked for environmental protection

measures under the appropriations for economic, technical and

financial cooperation with developing countries and countries

covered by the PHARE programme;

Environmental measures in Greece

21.Calls on the Commission to do its utmost to ensure, as part

of the implementation of the environmental programme for

Greece, that the competent national agencies are strengthened

and that Community policy is fully translated into law;

22.Calls on the Court of Auditors, with effect from the 1991

financial year, to devote a chapter of its annual report to

the impact on the environment of the Community's financial

instruments;

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23.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the

Commission, the Council and the Court of Auditors of the

European Communities.