Strategy on environmental integration
The European Commission has approved a communication to the European Council, to be held in Cardiff in June 1998, on the integration of environmental requirements into other EU policies. The communication presents a strategy, in the form of a set of guidelines, for the implementation of Article 6 of the Amsterdam Treaty, which established the obligation to integrate environmental requirements into all EU policies and actions. The main thrust of this integration strategy is to ensure a break with sectoral decision-making and to ensure that all new policy proposals are assessed for environmental implications, and are adjusted to ensure a positive contribution to sound environmental management. More sustainable economic activity can only be achieved if an integrated policy, embracing social and economic development alongside the protection of the environment becomes a reality. The Commission proposal invites a partnership approach to the integration challenge and proposes that the Council, Parliament and the Commission should jointly discuss the development of mechanisms for implementing the guidelines and monitoring their implementation.