The environment programme of the Italian Presidency of the European Union was presented to the European Parliament on 9 September. It is based on “positive actions rather than on the ideology of prohibitions”. The Italian Presidency intends to accelerate and qualify the necessary European shift from a negative culture of “command and control” to a positive one of the environment as “motor of development and as an opportunity for growth”. To this end, it proposes to identity and develop provisions and mechanisms to encourage the development of “good practices” and clean technologies, to the advantage of the businesses and consumers that choose environmental sustainability as their basic criterion. The programme is focused on various sectors, including: the strategic integration between environment and energy for the future of the planet; cooperation with the USA on research; partnership with Russia for the development and diffusion of energy technologies of high efficiency and low emissions; the active presence at the Ninth Conference of the Parties on Climate Change aimed at the reduction of gas emissions, to be held in Milan; a full legislative programme on sustainable development, atmospheric pollution and chemical substances; waste treatment; and a packed calendar of meetings between experts of European partners.
