Mr. Pat Macken:

The thematic strategy of the sixth environment action programme was waste prevention and recycling. As a result of a commitment in that programme, a new waste framework directive on recycling policies and so on was introduced, which drilled down to member state level through directives and policies. Member states also took their own initiatives. The action across Europe must be broad in nature. As I said in my opening statement, the Europe 2020 strategy sets the broad canvass, as does the European sustainable development strategy. We published our sustainable development strategy last year. The aim is to set a narrative that will appeal across all sectors. As such, the programme is broad in scope and contains nine separate priority objectives. It tries to draw together all of these strands in a way that will be meaningful to Governments and civil society. The Commission set out to do it in that particular way and it has worked quite well. We are trying to maintain a narrative that will mobilise and drive action.

In our experience, one of the problems with the previous environment action programme was that it became too prescriptive in terms of the inclusion of many different actions, some of which went nowhere in the end. It became something of a Christmas tree and took a long time to negotiate. We believe the Commission, guided by political debate at European Council level, did a good job in coming up with a coherent framework that would drive and focus action up to 2020. It sets the broad policy strategy. It also, as the Deputy stated, identifies priority areas in which there is currently a lack of progress. This is based partly on an analysis of the previous environment action programme, in which gaps not properly addressed were identified. For example, in terms of consumption and production, we still consume too many natural resources. The aim is to break the link between economic growth and the consumption of natural resources through, for example, the green public procurement action plan, which is a practical measure we introduced and which features again in the current programme. It is a strategy that seeks to bring together all of the different strands to integrate environmental principles across all areas, be they financial or economic areas. It is seen as a type of platform for driving the environmental side up to 2020 and to ensure that environmental action is taken and integrated in areas such as the European semester.