In time for the Barcelona summit, the General Affairs Council finalised its contribution to the debate on sustainable development. The Ministers adopted a strategy for the better integrating environmental considerations into EU’s external policy.
The strategy adopted by the General Affairs Council on 11
March 2002, is part of the Cardiff process and it provides input
for the EU’s position to the Johannesburg Summit in
August-September this year. The strategy emphasises that the EU
should:
- stress the need to de-couple economic growth from environmental
degradation; - support existing multilateral agreements;
- foster greater political and environmental responsibility
through political dialogue, institutional and civil society
support; - support improvements in human rights, democratisation and
governance; - ensure that the environmental factors are addressed in conflict
prevention activities; - work towards an outcome of the WTO negotiations which will
clarify the interface between the trade system and environmental
policies; - provide technical assistance, capacity building and
know-how; - develop sustainability impact assessments to be included in
future trade negotiations.
The strategy will be forwarded to the Barcelona
Summit.