For a closer Europe

In a release the EU Commission addresses the future of the EU with a set a proposals that range from increasing participation to European Parliament elections, set for the end of May 2014; new initiatives to reduce road deaths; new initiatives to protect the environment and human health, and counter "wideapread" urban waste. Far from being crucial decisions meant to will finally solve the economic crisis, these aspects affect citizens’ daily lives and provide an idea of the large area of competence of the EU Executive.Citizens to the polls. In a recommendation adopted a few days ago the Commissioners’ college invites nominate a candidate for European Commission President in the next European elections – that takes place every 5 years – and display their European political party affiliation in Strasbourg. These are just proposals as for example, the treaties do not provide for the direct election of the head of the Commission. Nonetheless the intention is clear, to "encourage a Europe-wide debate" and ultimately "improve voter turnout" that radically decreased during the years. "The EU cannot be built without Europeans’ participation. Citizens must express themselves on the advancement of the EU", said Viviane Reding, vice president of the Executive. The recommendation is backed by the release of a Eurobarometer survey according to which "84% of all citizens think turnout in European elections would increase with more information about the EU’s impact on their daily lives". 73% believe "more information about candidates’ European political affiliations would encourage people to vote", while for 62% "having party candidates for Commission President and a single voting day would help bolster turnout".Transport: less victims. "75 people die on Europe’s roads every day" (28 thousand in 2012), thus despite improvements in the area of road safety "there is no room for complacency". Siim Kallas, Commissioner for transport, thus commented the figures released by the Executive March 19. In 2011 EU27 adopted a strategy for safer road transport. "Road fatalities across the EU have decreased by 9% in 2012", representing "the lowest number of people killed in road traffic in EU countries since the first data were collected" in the mid 1960s. Kallas continued: "A 9% decrease means that 3,000 lives were saved last year. We have ambitious goals to cut EU road deaths in half by 2020 and we need to keep up this momentum to get there". Road deaths "are only the tip of the iceberg. For every death on Europe’s roads there are 10 serious injuries such as damage to the brain or spinal cord". Statistics show that the number of road deaths "still varies greatly across the EU". The countries with the lowest number of road fatalities remain the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark, reporting around 30 deaths per million inhabitants. The "most worrying" feature of the road safety statistics for 2011 was "a high increase in the number of killed vulnerable users such as pedestrians, motorcyclists and elderly people". The Road Safety plan includes a new driver’s licence with tighter rules for the access to motorbikes and trucks, improvements to vehicles (breaking system, emergency signal, passenger compartment), infrastructure – with the support of applied research – road users’ behaviour and speeding.Recycle not landfill. In the past week Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik addressed the problem of urban waste management: each European citizen generates over 500 kilos of municipal waste, more than one third of which goes directly to landfill. "Whereas some Member States manage to put those resources to productive use, recycling or composting around 60% of their municipal waste, others struggle to manage it". During a seminar in Brussels, Potocnik reiterated a set of key principles to optimize national waste management policies "through tailored Roadmaps with practical recommendations, focusing on the effective implementation of EU waste legislation". Many Member States "still rely too heavily on landfilling. Burying our waste is a huge loss of precious materials and a lost opportunity to create more jobs, economic growth and reduce the impacts of waste on human health", the Commissioner said. The Commission proposed a set of "levers" to avoid resort to landfills that include incentives to promote waste prevention, reuse and recycling along with measures to step up public awareness.