Commission reports on progress of environmental integration
The European Commission has made major progress towards working environmental concerns into its policies, in particular Agenda 2000, which aims to strengthen and reform EU policies, assist negotiations for European enlargement and put in place a new financial framework for 2000 to 2006. However, much more work is required across a broad range of areas, according to a recent Commission report. The Commission has adopted this report on environmental integration in preparation for the forthcoming European Council meeting in Cologne, Germany, on 3 and 4 June 1999. Environmental integration in areas such as transport, energy, the internal market and development cooperation is crucial, the Commission says, to ensure that the targets for a better environment, set out in the 1997 Kyoto agreement, can be achieved. The Cologne report on environmental integration incorporates a number of key messages, and is closely linked to a separate report by the Commission on the EU's strategy on climate change, which it adopted on 19 May 1999. It is aimed at reminding the sectoral Councils of the work to be done before the Helsinki European Council in December 1999, and at presenting the state of play of the Commission's own integration initiatives. In its report, the Commission outlines its policies on climate change, Agenda 2000, and the international trade talks for the Millennium Round, as well as development cooperation in key areas of integration.