Mr. Janez Poto?nik:

The preparatory work for Ireland's forthcoming EU Presidency is advancing well. The Irish Presidency comes at a time when we are still struggling with the consequences of the crisis that has hit our economies in an unprecedented way. In this difficult context, I am even more delighted to see that environmental issues - resource efficiency, water and waste management, air quality, climate change - are high on the agenda.

Today, green growth and resource efficiency are particularly crucial since economic activity - and thus resource-use - increases with the global population growth and rapid industrialisation of emerging economies.

All our economies, Ireland is no exception, depend on resources and these will inevitably become more scarce. It will be those economies that use resources better and more efficiently that will be the most competitive. By resources, I am not just referring to metals and minerals, but also to our natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides to the economy and to our societies. I am convinced that there will be no growth in the future if it is not green growth. We have already started to see evidence on that. A study by McKinsey shows that every percentage point reduction in resource use is worth around €23 billion to business and could create up to 100,000 to 200,000 new jobs in the European Union.

Resource efficiency, doing more with less, can help reduce costs, adjust to rising and less predictable prices of commodities, as well as fierce competition on a global scale. Resource efficiency is key for competitiveness and, for some companies it will be crucial for their survival, in the medium and long-term. Our agriculture business for example, will not continue to be successful without more consideration of its environmental impacts and of its use of resources. We have only to look at the rising prices for animal-feed in recent years to see how that is changing the economies of beef farming. Resource efficiency is one of the flagships in the Europe 2020 Strategy for sustainable, smart and inclusive growth.

The implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, the main EU strategic document for this decade, is supported by the European semester, the annual economic governance cycle of the strategy. This is where I believe the committee should take a particular interest. It is the semester process which connects what should happen at national and Community levels and the committee should monitor both carefully.

I am trying to use the process effectively to integrate the need for increased resource efficiency into economic policy and to put the greening of our economies high on the political agenda. For instance, applying resource-efficiency thinking to public expenditure can be conducive to substantial savings and budget consolidation.

In the most recent exercises, we suggested to member states that they pay particular attention to measures that can support growth, employment and competitiveness, while bringing environmental benefits, all within short term.

This year, our recommendations to 12 countries focused on the shift from taxing jobs towards environmental taxation. Ireland is already leading the way. It has introduced a tax on CO₂emissions and raised taxes on transport fuels. Also opportunities for waste and water taxes were raised for particular member states. Energy efficiency and transport were covered extensively. Furthermore, green growth performance indicators underpinned the recommendations.

Last spring, the European Council asked for rapid progress on the implementation of the resource efficiency roadmap. We hope that the 2013 spring European Council, under the Irish Presidency, will come up with ambitious conclusions on the role of the green economy for a sustainable exit from the crisis. The forthcoming December environmental Council debate on the European semester will provide important input from environment Ministers in the 2013 semester process. Therefore, as can be seen, the semester process is really how we get environment policy onto the desks of the Heads of State and Government.

Although Ireland was not asked to update its national reform programme this year, I appreciate its efforts to continue monitoring and acting on the wider range of Europe 2020 commitments. It is crucial resource efficiency is supported at all levels of government, whether EU, national, regional or local, as well as by business and citizens. The Irish experience with the local authority prevention network and SMILE resource exchange shows the importance of mobilising various actors.

Finally, let me say a few words about the "European Resource Efficiency Platform" chaired by a former Taoiseach, John Bruton. The platform brings together European Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament, environment Ministers, business leaders and members of international organisations and institutions, civil society and academia. The objective of the platform that was launched last June is to provide high-level guidance to the Commission, member states, local and regional authorities, and private actors on the transition towards a more resource-efficient economy. The platform will formulate its first specific policy recommendations on short-term priority measures before summer 2013. The main focus right now is on boosting the circular economy, ensuring sufficient funding for resource efficiency initiatives and on the best way of measuring and supporting progress through suitable indicators and targets.

The involvement of national parliaments in European policy making is essential and I welcome this opportunity to have an exchange of views today. In the preparation of new policy, the comments and views of this committee help make them policy effective and practical to implement. Those views are, thus, very much welcomed. The Lisbon treaty gave Ireland enhanced powers to monitor that the Commission pays due regard to subsidiarity. This will ensure that our proposals take national characteristics into account. It also gives Ireland enough flexibility to put in place national measures that work on the ground and that deliver the environmental and health benefits that we all want, without undue administrative burden. In the current environment we need the most efficient and most effective solutions to environmental challenges and Ireland can help us to deliver them by putting environmental considerations at the centre its decision-making in all policy areas.

Let me come back to the priorities that we would like to pursue together during Ireland's Presidency. I am pretty busy at the moment with the adoption of several major initiatives. Last month, we adopted the proposal for the review of the environmental impact assessment directive; last week it was the communication on safeguarding Europe's water resources. We will soon come forward with the new 7th environment action programme for 2013-2020. This programme is more strategic than previous programmes and is aimed at securing stakeholder engagement on a limited number of priority objectives for policy development up to 2020. Its key themes are: the creation of the right conditions for a single market for sustainable and low-carbon growth; the strengthening of the EU's ecological and climate resilience and the contribution of environment policy to better human health and well-being; and better implementation of legislation and strengthening of the international dimension of environment policy. I know that the Irish Presidency is very keen to work towards a first reading agreement between member states and the European Parliament, and we fully support that.
I would also like to mention some of the major initiatives in our work programme for 2013 and 2014. Early next year, we will come forward with proposals on how the EU will follow-up on the Rio+20 conference, in particular on how to work towards sustainable development goals. Second, we will review our air quality policies. Third, we plan to come forward with a framework for unconventional fossil fuel exploration and exploitation, in particular, shale gas. Fourth, we will work on reviewing our waste policy and legislation in 2014. There is still considerable scope for improving Europe's waste management. Full application of the legislation would save us an estimated €70 billion a year and create over 400,000 jobs by 2020. During Ireland's Presidency, I hope to keep up the momentum and trigger a constructive debate among member states on what further concrete actions need to be set into motion in the field of environment policy.

To summarise, let us look at what happened in the 20th century. In the 20th century, growth in population quadrupled, growth in GDP multiplied by over 20, growth in any resource - water, fish, raw materials, energy etc. - was similar to growth of GDP. Basically, growth in population and growth in use of resources went in different directions. In an article in a science journal published by the Nature Publishing Group this year, scientists conclude that the major challenges in the 21st century will be driven by two factors, the growth of population from 7 billion to 9 billion and by per capitagrowth in consumption. We estimate we will have 3 billion new consumers in the market by 2030 who will move from a low level of consumption to the middle level of consumption.

The world has truly changed and has become a small global village. We are more interconnected and interdependent than ever and the challenges we fact together are huge - climate change, food security, disappearing biodiversity, water quality and quantity, land management, over-fishing and potential pandemics. Many of these issues are related to poverty and education, which cannot be addressed without addressing the issue of resources.

Management of our resources is, therefore, crucial. I do not just refer to energy or raw materials, which are issues sometimes addressed by the business sector directly. We also refer to land, water, oceans and biodiversity. A resource intensive growth model which was, basically, developed in the industrialised part of the world can simply not be replicated on the global scale. Therefore, we must all think carefully how we should redesign our growth and consumption models. Change is, therefore, inevitable. It is even more important in Europe than in the rest of the world, because we in Europe are very much dependent on imported resources. Also, the cost of all resources is increasing. Prices are volatile and that trend is expected to continue. Europe is also very locked into its existing production structures.

This issue is very important for us. It is not just a question of environmental preservation, but a central issue for the competitiveness of Europe in the future. In Rio, we shared our concerns. Those countries on our side there were typically African countries. Why was this? It was because for them, each drop of water counts, each piece of fertile land counts, each fish they catch counts. For different reasons, we see this as an important part of our future development. I believe that in future, global strategical partnerships will basically revolve around resources.

Even if we could settle the financial debt crisis in many European countries, we would still have a competitiveness issue.

On the question of competitiveness, we do not have any easy answers. If we fix the economy, especially the financial elements and then the structural problems, then the answer lies in the knowledge-based economy, an area in which Europe is strong. More resource efficiency is vital and that is a serious obstacle to our competitiveness nowadays. We will have to shift our view from the short to the long term because, due to the aforementioned challenges, the 21st century cannot be managed with a short-term preventative logic.

Ireland and the Irish people are green. The fields and the country as a whole are green. Part of the Irish flag is green and on the football field, Ireland is also green. Combined with white stripes, Ireland can even beat the unbeatable in football. However, it is time to add to the famous 40 shades of green - in which Ireland is expressed in poetry - an additional shade, namely the green economy. In that context, I know that I can count on the support of the Irish.