REPORT on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts
2.12.2013 - (COM(2013)0247 – C7‑0120/2013 – 2013/0130(COD)) - ***I
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Rapporteur: Elena Oana Antonescu
DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION
on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts
(COM(2013)0247 – C7‑0120/2013 – 2013/0130(COD))
(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2013)0247),
– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 338(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C7‑0120/2013),
– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
– having regard to Rule 55 of its Rules of Procedure,
– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A7-0420/2013),
1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;
2. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it intends to amend its proposal substantially or replace it with another text;
3. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.
Amendment 1 Proposal for a regulation Recital 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Text proposed by the Commission |
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(1) Decision No xxx of the European Parliament and of the Council of xxx 2013 laying down the Seventh Community Environment Action Programme1 provides that sound information on the key trends, pressures and drivers for environmental change is essential for the development of effective policy, its implementation, and the empowerment of citizens more generally. Instruments should be developed with a view to enhancing public awareness of the environmental effects of economic activity. |
(1) Decision No .../... /EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of xxx 2013 laying down the Seventh Community Environment Action Programme+ provides that sound information on the key trends, pressures and drivers for environmental change is essential for the development of effective policy, its implementation, and the empowerment of citizens more generally. Instruments should be developed with a view to enhancing public awareness of the environmental effects of economic activity. It is important that such data are made available in a comprehensible and accessible form and published together with conventional economic data such as GDP. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 2 Proposal for a regulation Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Article 2 – point 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 3 Proposal for a regulation Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Article 2 – point 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 4 Proposal for a regulation Article 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1 Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Article 2 – point 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 5 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex IV – section 1 – paragraph 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 6 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex IV – section 3 – fourth indent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 7 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex IV – Section 4 – paragraph 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 8 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex IV – Section 4 – paragraph 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 9 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex IV – Section 4 – paragraph 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 10 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex V – section 1 – paragraph 2 a (new) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 11 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex V – Section 4 – paragraph 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 12 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex V – Section 4 – paragraph 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 13 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex V – Section 4 – paragraph 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 14 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – section 4 – point 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 15 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – Section 4 – paragraph 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 16 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – Section 4 – paragraph 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 17 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – Section 4 – paragraph 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 18 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – section 5 – point 1 – introductory part | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 19 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – section 5 – point 1 – first indent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 20 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – section 5 – point 5 – second indent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Amendment 21 Proposal for a regulation Annex Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 Annex VI – section 5 – point 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Starting from 2003, environmental accounting was on the agenda of the European Union, as the GDP alone was not considered anymore a sufficient indicator for measuring progress and people's wellbeing in the world.
In June 2006, the European Council called on the European Union and its Member States to extend the classical national accounts to the key aspects of sustainable development and to supplement the national accounts with fully consistent, integrated environmental economic accounts.
In August 2008, the European Commission published its Communication on "GDP and beyond - measuring progress in a changing world (COM(2009)433)" in which it expressed its intention to develop strong tools to measure progress in delivering social, economic and environmental goals in a sustainable manner. The need to track the links between the environment and the economy, to measure what impacts the economy has on the environment and how the environment contributes to the economy already became very evident.
In April 2010, the European Commission proposed for the first time the Regulation on European environmental accounts which was subsequently adopted and entered into force in July 2011 as Regulation 691/2011, introducing the first three modules: air emission accounts, environmental taxes and material flow accounts. At those times, these three new modules were seen just as a first step towards having a strong instrument of environmental accounting. In article 10 of the Regulation, the Parliament actively supported the insertion of a list of new possible modules as priorities for future development.
Following the entry into force of the Regulation, Eurostat together with the Member States started to carry out pilot tests especially in regard to the first three modules listed in Article 10 of the Regulation: environmental protection expenditure, environmental goods and services sector and physical energy flow accounts. They reached the conclusion that these were the most mature from a conceptual point of view and thus proposed an extension of Regulation 691/2011 to these new modules.
The rapporteur welcomes the proposal that the Commission has put forward and believes that the new accounts will contribute to further developing more comprehensive indicators for better public debate and policy making. Due to the financial and personnel restraints that the national statistical institutes have to face for the moment it is important to focus on improving quality and promote the use of the already existing modules and the ones that the Commission has brought forward through the current proposal. It is important that the additional administrative burden is kept to what is necessary.
After consulting several services in charge of collecting the data, it became clear that some Member States were not yet ready for this new exercise and wanted to postpone the application with one year. The rapporteur can agree with this, if it is for the benefit of the quality of the data provided by the Member States to Eurostat.
The rapporteur can only encourage the wider use of the environmental accounts data by the European Commission and the national administration in order to develop well targeted policies that are able to contribute to the Union's policy priorities of green growth and resource efficiency.
PROCEDURE
Title |
European environmental economic accounts |
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References |
COM(2013)0247 – C7-0120/2013 – 2013/0130(COD) |
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Date submitted to Parliament |
2.5.2013 |
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Committee responsible Date announced in plenary |
ENVI 21.5.2013 |
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Committee(s) asked for opinion(s) Date announced in plenary |
ECON 21.5.2013 |
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Not delivering opinions Date of decision |
ECON 18.6.2013 |
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Rapporteur(s) Date appointed |
Elena Oana Antonescu 19.6.2013 |
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Discussed in committee |
24.10.2013 |
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Date adopted |
27.11.2013 |
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Result of final vote |
+: –: 0: |
59 0 0 |
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Members present for the final vote |
Elena Oana Antonescu, Paolo Bartolozzi, Sandrine Bélier, Sergio Berlato, Lajos Bokros, Franco Bonanini, Biljana Borzan, Yves Cochet, Spyros Danellis, Chris Davies, Esther de Lange, Bas Eickhout, Edite Estrela, Jill Evans, Karl-Heinz Florenz, Elisabetta Gardini, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Matthias Groote, Françoise Grossetête, Satu Hassi, Jolanta Emilia Hibner, Dan Jørgensen, Karin Kadenbach, Martin Kastler, Holger Krahmer, Corinne Lepage, Kartika Tamara Liotard, Linda McAvan, Miroslav Ouzký, Gilles Pargneaux, Andrés Perelló Rodríguez, Pavel Poc, Frédérique Ries, Anna Rosbach, Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, Kārlis Šadurskis, Carl Schlyter, Richard Seeber, Bogusław Sonik, Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu, Thomas Ulmer, Glenis Willmott, Sabine Wils, Marina Yannakoudakis |
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Substitute(s) present for the final vote |
Erik Bánki, Gaston Franco, Julie Girling, Eduard-Raul Hellvig, Georgios Koumoutsakos, Jiří Maštálka, Judith A. Merkies, Miroslav Mikolášik, James Nicholson, Alojz Peterle, Vittorio Prodi, Marita Ulvskog, Vladimir Urutchev, Anna Záborská, Andrea Zanoni |
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Date tabled |
2.12.2013 |
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