The European Parliament is on course to confirm its position on waste proposals in February, according to MEP Simona Bonafè (S&D), who spoke at the conference organised by the Italian embassy in Belgium and the Italian trade agency on 29 November.
“But I don’t expect we’ll be able to start negotiating with the Council in March,” the MEP stated. As the MEP steering the talks in the environment committee, she noted that the Council still disagrees on some crucial points, which may prevent Malta, the incoming Council presidency, from making fast progress. A contact within the upcoming Maltese Presidency inferred, however, that the Parliament could directly hold its Plenary vote in March.
Ms Bonafè moreover clarified that she expects the environment committee, which is due to vote on the position in January, to take more or less the line of her proposals published in May, including broadly accepting the proposed targets. However, the targets also depend on the methodology chosen, she added.
“We also intend to strengthen all the prevention measures,” Ms Bonafè said. “I’m not a big fan of targets – they are a way of seeing how well we’re doing promoting the circular economy,” she said, adding that the landfill target is the key one in terms of reducing waste.