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CONSTITUTION WOULD LOSE PUBLIC SUPPORT IF IT FORGETS THE ENVIRONMENT
Brussels, February
27, 2003
Eight leading environmental organisations (1) have expressed their
strong disappointment about the proposal of the Convention Praesidium
for the first 16 articles of a new Constitution.
"We were shocked to see a definition of sustainable development
which is only based on social and economic considerations, and doesn't
even mention the environment," the 'Green-8' said. "We hope
that this was an unintentional mistake which will be corrected immediately."
Moreover, while the existing EC Treaty in Article 2 aims for "a
high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment,"
this objective has now been lost in the proposed Constitution.
Equally worrying is that Art. 6 of the existing EC Treaty, which obliges
the EU to integrate environmental protection requirements into all
its policies, has also completely disappeared in the Praesidium draft.
This ‘integration principle’ was a fundamental achievement, consolidated
in the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties, ensuring the coherence of
all EU policies with the overall aim of sustainable development. In
the view of the Green 8, its deletion would represent an attempt to
go 20 years backwards.
If the environment is taken into consideration from the very beginning
in all policy areas, this will also lead to improved efficiency, innovation
and competitiveness, benefiting Europe's economy.
"It is also critical," added the Green-8, "that the
new Constitution ensures that the policies and actions of the Union
are coherent with the Union’s objectives of poverty eradication and
promotion of sustainable development, in particular as they affect
developing countries."
"For a majority of EU citizens, the EU's political initiatives
in the field of environment are one of the best reasons to support
European integration. A European Constitution that ignores the importance
of environmental protection will not find public support, and we believe
it would not deserve it," warned the 8 organisations.
The Green-8 have suggested Amendments to the draft Constitution to
address the above mentioned concerns (2). The proposed amendments
have already won the support of several Convention members, including
Germany's foreign minister Joschka Fischer.
For further information,
contact:
* Lorenzo Consoli, Greenpeace, +32 (0) 496 12 21 12;
* Martin Rocholl, FoEE, +32-2-5420180;
* Ioli Christopoulou, WWF, +32 2 740 0920;
* Clairie Papazoglou, BirdLife, +32 2 2800830
Note for the editor:
(1) The member organisations of the Green-8 are: BirdLife
International, Climate Action Network Europe, European Environmental
Bureau (EEB), Friends of Nature International, European Federation
for Transport and Environment (T & E), Friends of the Earth Europe
(FoEE), Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
(2) The proposed amendments can be found at:
http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2003/G8_14_Feb_Convention.htm
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