Justice and security: the next step is Stockholm “Promoting fundamental rights”; “facilitating citizens’ lives by boosting justice in Europe”; “protecting citizens from organized crime and terrorism”; “creating a society based on solidarity and integration by means of concerted action in the fields of immigration and asylum”. These are the “four ambitious pillars” defined by EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, aimed at renewed EU strategy in the areas of justice, freedom and security. EU27 is delineating the “Stockholm programme” (linked to the previous Tempere and The Hague programmes) whose final definition is expected to take place under Swedish presidency in December 2009. The Executive drew up a proposal that includes basic principles and operative initiatives that will undergo Parliament and Council debate. Actions focus upon the improvement of personal data protection, the creation of an exchange programme for police and legal professionals, monitoring the borders, the reception of refugees and integration of legal migrants. Vice President Jacques Barrot said, “Citizens that are involved in these issues will thereby be given central attention”.Baltic Sea region: proposals by the CommissionThe Baltic Sea is surrounded by eight EU Member States and Russia, and is home to 100 million EU citizens. It’s a “far-distant” macro-region that “is facing several important challenges” linked to the environment, the economy and its infrastructures, involving also the bordering Countries and the entire EU. For this purpose last week the European Commission presented a strategy proposal in order to address “the deteriorating state of the Baltic Sea, poor transport links, barriers to trade and energy supply concerns”. Danuta Hübner explained: “The state of the sea is deteriorating due to excessive discharges of nitrates and phosphates and biodiversity is under threat. Economies need to be better inter-connected. The Baltic region is hampered by long distances, internally and with the rest of Europe: it takes 36 hours by train to reach Tallinn from Warsaw. Another concern is the isolation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in terms of energy supplies”. Finally, “with the increasing number of oil tankers using the sea as a highway, the threat of accidents is ever present”. Some eighty flagship projects were proposed by the Commission envisaging, among other things, the removal of phosphates in detergent in all Member States with the aim of reducing nutrients in the sea while a “Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan” will be implemented to better connect Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to European networks. The ‘Rail Baltica’ will connect Warsaw to Tallinn by 2013 with a target speed of 120 km per hour. A fund for innovation and research will be set up. Thumbs down to the Commission by ten Green NGOs Ten renowned environmental organizations (including WWF, Greenpeace, BirdLife, Friends of the Earth) gave a “thumbs down” to the Barroso Commission. A 15-page programme issued June 10 analysed twelve community fields of action along with a “report” presenting the NGOs’ votes to the Commission. Accordingly, agriculture was given 4 out of ten; biodiversity 4; climate 7; energy 6; health 5; natural resources 3; sustainable development 2, transportation 6. Green NGO representatives protested “scarce commitment in the implementation of environmental regulations”, a political approach marked by giving “economic development the priority over environmental protection”, contradictory measures in the realm of energy, GMOs, ecosystems, health. The ten organizations – that didn’t fail to acknowledge some of Barroso’s achievements – submitted some seventy proposals to the Commission, due to take office in the fall, based on three chapters defined by WWF Europe chairman Tony Long. The first proposal regards the 2014-2020 budget. Accordingly, EU environmental commitments ought to be reconsidered (reduction of greenhouse gases, efficiency and energy saving, alternative energy sources). Secondly, there is request for legislation “promoting innovation and clean energies”, including automobile emissions and countering pollution from power plants (the 10 NGOs are against nuclear energy). Finally, a chapter is devoted to the “global leadership” that EU is called to address after Kyoto.
