European Environmental Bureau criticizes the European Commission's "Better Regulation" package

22.05.2015

This week during a public statement the European Environmental Bureau has censured the European Commission's "Better Regulation" package. The statement emphasizes that this initiative will not only harm the European citizens but also European democracy as a whole.

In the statement released on May 19, Jeremy Wates, Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau, said: "Juncker's (EC President) Political Guidelines do nothing to address environmental issues except climate change. This deal is not about better regulation, it is about less regulation."

In Wates' words, better regulation should mean a transparent, efficient and democratic law-making process aimed at making sustainable development the overarching priority of the European Union. Instead the Commission is using this initiative to "clog" up the legislative process, not target the areas where there is unnecessary bureaucracy.

It has already been reported that European environment protection organisations strongly oppose the European Commission's "deregulation initiative" through which the European Commission wants to reduce bureaucracy in the European Union legislative processes. One of the points provides for an in-depth evaluation of Birds and Habitats Directives to determine their effectiveness in protecting natural values. As evidenced by rhetoric about "business-friendly" legislation and similar statements by European Commission President Juncker, this process is directed in a direction unfavourable to nature conservation.

European environment non-governmental organisations believe that environment conservation is a field where strict regulations and requirements are particularly important to protect animals, plants and habitats from extinction and provide a sustainable development in the European Union.

To maintain the foundation of European environmental  legislation - the Birds and Habitats Directives, we invite you and all other citizens from the 28 EU states to participate in the campaign "Nature Alert" and express support for saving European natural values. Participate here: www.naturealert.eu/lv.

Thanks to Birds and Habitats Directives, Europe now is a proud home to the world's largest network of protected areas, Natura 2000, covering about one fifth of the Europe's land and 4% of its marine sites.

Information prepared for project "Non-governmental sector participation in the international conference" EU Biodiversity strategy implementation "" financed by Latvian national budget-funded program "Support for public participation in the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union implementation" and administered by the Society Integration Foundation.