The Environment Committee of the European Parliament will vote next week on noise limits for vehicles. The compromise proposal put forward by the lead MEP has been drafted by sports car manufacturer Porsche.
The current Commission is on track to have one of the worst-ever environmental records of any EU administration. That is the view of the group of 10 Brussels-based environmental NGOs (‘Green 10’), whose mid-term assessment of José Manuel Barroso’s second Commission says it would not win any medals and is acting to protect the environment even less than his first Commission (2005-09).
Opinion by Jos Dings - T&E Director
Every year the European Environment Agency publishes a fat report on the latest trends in greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. The latest one deals with developments in 2010, but has figures going back to 1990. A good opportunity then to look back and see whether a close inspection reveals any lessons. And indeed it does.
The idea of making fuel tax in Europe relate to a fuel’s energy and carbon dioxide content is still struggling to get into the EU Energy Tax Directive. Last month EU finance ministers moved closer to approving a new structure for minimum tax rates for fuels, but most member states opposed any system that would force them to make diesel more expensive than petrol.
The decision by the EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas to allow so-called ‘megatrucks’ to cross EU borders raises doubts about whether the Commission takes its role as the guardian of EU treaties seriously.
T&E’s French member organisation FNE has started a campaign showing that fine particle emissions from diesel engines can have deadly consequences for human health and the environment.
Airlines have told the Commission that making the use of biofuels in aviation obligatory would harm their competitiveness.
The Commission has denied that changes to the EU Fuel Quality Directive will breach World Trade Organisation rules.