During its meeting on 16 March, the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) held an exchange of views with Commission Vice-President for Growth and Jobs Katainen on, among others, the implementation of the Circular Economy Action Plan. This debate will feed into the decision-making process whether the ENVI Committee is going to work on an own-initiative report on the Circular Economy Action Plan
Mr Jyrki Katainen, European Commission Vice-President responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, focused on the fact that theEU is already a global leader in green technologies. In order to become more innovative the Commission makes Structural Funds and different financing streams available to prospective investors. On the monitoring and reporting, the Commission Vice-President claimed that the Commission is already working with Eurostat in order to improve the quality of collected data.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) welcomed the Circular Economy Action Plan. However, Josu Juaristi Abaunz (GUE/NGL, ES), Shadow-rapporteur on the legislative proposals on waste, claimed that the Commission proposal could be more ambitious.
The priorities of the ENVI Committee members include also reduction of marine litter, including micro-plastics and food waste. Some MEPs were inquiring about a possibility to introduce financial incentives, such as tax reductions or product price reductions for investors in order to facilitate transition towards the circular economy.
Timeline for the ENVI Committee work on the legislative proposals on waste:
- 16/17 March 2016: First exchange of views
- 21 April 2016: Presentation of the draft report
- 23 May 2016: Consideration of the draft report
- 1 June 2016: Deadline for amendments
- 11 July 2016: Consideration of amendments
- 7 November 2016: Adoption of the report by the ENVI Committee