The cities of the future will be more sustainable and greener, and environmental policies must prevent, not cure. These are, in general terms, some of the main proposals defended by the Committee of the Regions, in the opinion approved last week, in Brussels, in the plenary of that body of the European Union that brings together local and regional officials of the 27.
the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), which constitutes the proposal of local and regional leaders from across the European Union for the 7th Environment Program 2013/2020, now under discussion, is authored by the Mayor of Faro, who is also Vice President of the CoR. O document it is now the proposal of all 344 members of the CoR to be sent to the European Commission and the Council.
In the plenary session, which took place on May 30, in Brussels, especially in the heated final discussion and vote on the report on Environment made by Macário Correia, more than the political divisions of the large European groups (the members of the CoR are also divided by political families, as in the European Parliament), the different ways of looking at the environment were highlighted.
Ján Oravec, mayor of Štúrovo (Slovakia) and part of the group of the European People's Party (the same as Macário Correia), strongly attacked the proposals in the document presented by the Portuguese mayor, arguing that they were too ambitious and even dangerous. "Environmental protection must go hand in hand with the possibilities we have," said Ján Oravec, who accused Macário of walking "head in the air" without "having his feet on the ground."
"We have thousands of unemployed, what is the environment going to do for them?", asked the Slovak mayor, reflecting the feeling of a country and a region in central Europe, where heavy industry has been partially closing its doors due to the environmental directives imposed by the European Union, but in large part also because these are obsolete factories, using outdated technology.
Petr Osvald, mayor of the city of Plzeň, in the neighboring Czech Republic, and a member of the PSE (European Socialist Party) group, would tune to the same tuning fork and that is why he maintained: “We have to think about people. The costs of energy and environmental protection affect citizens».
Showing that these issues have nothing to do with political color in the CoR, the Englishman Neil Swanick (PPE), mayor of Manchester City, defended that an “economy with less carbon, greener, is the future”.
For his part, the Portuguese Macário Correia (PPE), author of the proposal being voted on, which was approved by a vast majority, defended that "Europe's environmental policy cannot be allowed to age", which has always been at the forefront, and underlined the advantages and potential that the environment and the so-called green economy can bring, even in the creation of more sustainable jobs.
Macário, who is also vice-president of the Committee of the Regions, stressed that "environmental protection is also good for citizens", since "citizens will be able to find jobs in the environment and improve their living conditions". "Environmental policy is a reinforcement for the economy and development policies," he added.
Mobility, urban environment and the precautionary principle
The opinion approved at the CoR's May plenary session now goes to the European Commission and the Council and will incorporate the final acts of approval of the 7th Environment Program which will last until 2020.
The 7th Environment Program until 2020 is a policy framework initiative for the various actions and measures in the field of sustainability for the coming years. The Environment Programs began to be carried out 40 years ago, in 1973, and have been carried out in successive cycles. Six cycles have elapsed and now the European Union is on its way to the 7th, "already a little late, because we should have started last year", explained Macário Correia, speaking to Sul Informação and to Antena1, after approval of the CoR proposal.
And what are the dominant themes in the coming years? «The urban environment, which has to do with mobility and transport, with training and environmental education (creating more involved citizens, more in tune with environmental issues), and above all developing directives that have been in existence for some years and that have to be deepened, such as the Water Directive, of the bathing fronts», began by explaining the mayor of Faro.
Another major theme is “the development of legislation regarding the precautionary principle, that is, defining that environmental policies must prevent, from the outset, they must be able to avoid problems. Hence the deepening of environmental impact legislation, of strategic environmental assessment, which are assessment measures prior to the creation of the problem. It is in this preventive philosophy of precaution that the policies of the future are developed», he added.
The 7th Environmental Program, which should shortly be approved by the European Commission, incorporating the proposals and contributions of various bodies, such as the CdR or the European Parliament, has, as explained by Macário Correia, «this component of orientation, policies and measures , which are then joined by concrete measures and the financial part, which articulates with the programs in the area of budgetary policy financing and the structural funds (the Regional Policy fund, the fund that has to do with agriculture and fisheries), as well as with the initiatives (such as the LIFE initiative), which then have their financial envelopes, where these measures and actions that are proposed here fit, in terms of eligibility». It will be in this context that, in the coming years, «initiatives coming from public or private entities will be presented and then will have their eligibility framework within these guidelines, which are outlined until 2020».
local experiences
The Committee of the Regions, which includes local and regional officials from the 27 member countries of the EU, is perhaps the European body which most reflects the diversity of opinions, mentalities and, above all, of practices in Europe.
The proposals themselves, such as the document that was presented by the Algarvian mayor Macário Correia, despite seeking the consensus that will lead to its approval, end up showing a little of what is lived locally and the experience that the rapporteur has.
So is it important for the municipality of Faro have a mayor present a document like this?
Macário Correia answers: «the municipality of Faro, due to its geographical position, is a municipality that is environmentally sensitive by nature. Almost a third of its territory is a natural park, Ria Formosa. Then there are the floodplains and meadows, the karst slopes of the Monte Figo mountain range».
On the other hand, «the fact that it is a large urban space, which on the scale of the Algarve is the largest», leads to «urban policies, centrality, mobility, everything that has to do with transport» become associated “to our philosophy”, he said.
“It is a pity, under the current circumstances, that we do not have the financial conditions to do what we would like. However, on the next 11th, Faro there will be a new urban transport network, with different, less polluting vehicles, the result of a competition that was opened a few years ago and which will now be visible on the 11th. I would like to have shared bicycles, whose competition is launched and which will have competitors soon. There is a bike path with sections that are completed and others that still need to be done. And there is a whole urban environment policy that we are developing», stressed the Farense mayor.
“These initiatives, taken together, prove that my visits and my experiences abroad are also important for Faro, to do something in this European spirit, to create more sustainable cities and to create an idea that green cities are an objective».
However, he admits, “when we look at cities in Sweden and Denmark, we see that we are a long way from that in terms of urban policy. We lack some investment power, so that everything gets better, but the ideas are incorporated and, even with economic difficulties, we have to gradually introduce these improvements».
«Faro it is a university city, an environmental city, a city in the Ria Formosa, and it has to incorporate the best it knows about European policies in order to fulfill its function”, he stressed.
As for the future of the CoR's proposal for the 7th Environment Programme, of which he was the author, Macário Correia hopes that "the mayors of the next cycle" across Europe will incorporate "these ideas into their local actions".
Know here the opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the 7th European Environment Program (2012-2020), as approved (English version).
Note: o Sul Informação traveled to Brussels at the invitation of Macário Correia, through the Committee of the Regions.
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