Parliament demands higher profile for environment in sustainable development strategy
The European Parliament has demanded that the environmental aspects of the EU's sustainable development strategy, which was established at the Gothenburg Summit a year ago, be reinforced and placed on an equal footing with economic growth and social cohesion. In a resolution passed on 28 February by a majority of 490 votes to 12, the Parliament demands a commitment to the development and mainstreaming of environmental policy and targets to measure the reversal of unsustainable trends. The vote comes ahead of the Spring Barcelona Summit in March, which will kick off the new, annual spring reviews of the EU's progress towards achieving its sustainable development goals. MEPs want more indicators established to assess the environmental aspects of sustainable development and ensure that the environment, which was made the third component of the EU's sustainable development strategy at the Gothenburg Summit of June 2001, carries as much weight as its economic and social components. They are calling for an indicator for resource consumption so that progress in breaking the link between economic growth and resource use can be measured. The Parliament welcomed the new biotechnology action plan presented by the Commission for the Barcelona Summit, and said that 'if applied prudently,' biotechnology can contribute to sustainable development. It regrets that the Commission sees the reservations of citizens about GMOs and stem cell research as 'a lack of acceptance' and stresses the legitimacy of the labelling and traceability of GMOs and the prioritisation of work with adult stem cells. The Parliament also wants to see rules on compensation liability in environmental matters, including pollution with GMOs. The resolution also looks ahead to the Rio+10 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in September, and calls for a joint European Parliament and Council of Europe conference on sustainable development to sharpen the focus of the preparations for the UN conference. MEPs also regret that the Commission paper outlining its contribution to the Johannesburg Conference reached Parliament too late for it to respond in time for the Barcelona Summit.