The Commission's second Environmental Policy Review (EPR) feeds into the debate on the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy at the March European Council. The report monitors the progress the EU has made in 2004 on its key environmental goals.
Key messages of the 2004 EPR are:
- there is growing consensus that "environment policy and eco-innovation can promote economic growth and maintain and create jobs, contributing to competitiveness and employment";
- the European eco-industry have been performing better than the rest of the economy; it employs more than 2 million people in Europe and continues to grow at around 5% per year;
- the biggest challenges are the implementation by member states of EU environmental legislation (one third of all open implementation cases for non implementation of EU law are in the environmental sector), better regulation and regulatory simplification which reduces the administrative and cost burden on the public sector and on companies.
In its first report on the implementation of the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) (see EurActiv's LinksDossier on ETAP), the Commission takes stock of the good progress that has been made in implementing the plan which was launched one year ago.
The report recommends:
- to establish "green investment funds" to mobilise risk funding, especially for small and medium-sized companies;
- te define environmental "performance targets" for key products, processes and services;
- to urge member states to produce "national road maps" for implementation of ETAP, with concrete measures and deadlines, and to draw up national action plans for green public procurement.
