B3-0846/93

Resolution on the results of the pan-European Environmental Ministers Conference in Lucerne (28-30 April 1993)

The European Parliament,

A.having regard to the meagre results of the second pan-European Environmental Ministers' Conference held in Lucerne on 28-30 April 1993,

B.noting that no funding was pledged in order to implement the action programme adopted, thereby preventing any concrete results,

C.having regard to the drastic environmental situation in certain areas of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe affecting not only the health of their citizens but also leading to losses in productivity,

1.Believes that these problems should be addressed first, but that in the medium and long term the aim of sustainable development has to be incorporated and that measures for the reconstruction of the economies of these countries towards a market-based economy should not conflict with the aim of moving towards sustainable development;

2.Notes that up to now very little money has been spent on environmental protection measures in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, one of the reasons being that under aid programmes for them, such measures are given no special priority;

3.Condemns the irresponsibility of the Environment Ministers in adopting a programme without providing any funding for its implementation;

4.Deplores the fact that too much money from the Phare and Tacis programmes goes on administrative costs and consulting firms;

5.Calls on the Commission to monitor developments in the environmental situation in Eastern, Central and Western Europe with the help of the European Environmental Agency and to forward regular reports on the state of the environment to the European Parliament and the Council;

6.Calls on the Commission in collaboration with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to develop an environmental urgency plan to address the most serious health and environmental problems by the end of 1993 at the latest;

7.Calls on the Commission in collaboration with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to draw up a pan-European environmental plan to achieve sustainability in Western, Central and Eastern Europe within one generation and to submit this plan to it and to the states involved;

8.Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase financial aid for particular environmental measures in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe without substantially reducing environmental financial aid to the developing countries;

9.Calls on the Commission and the Member States, at the request of the governments of countries of Central and Eastern Europe, to help draft environmental legislation, environmental administration and environmental plans in those countries and, to facilitate this aim, asks for a special Community programme to train civil servants from the countries concerned to be set up;

10Insists that, in the Phare and Tacis programmes, a much larger amount be spent on environmental measures;

11.Calls on the Commission to propose an environmental code of conduct for investment in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe along the lines of existing Community environmental legislation and to discuss this code with it and the states involved (EC and Central and Eastern Europe), no later than the end of 1993;

12.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the governments and parliaments which participated in the second Pan-European Conference in Lucerne.