PRESS RELEASE

EU Environment and Economic Policy: A new deal?

(Berlin, 14 May 2007) - The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and the German League for Nature & Environment (DNR) today welcomed the German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel's initiative for a new European ecological industrial policy. Speaking at a jointly-organised conference in Berlin on "Environment, Innovation and Employment", Mikael Karlsson, EEB's President, said: "We welcome Mr Gabriel's initiative and share many of his concerns and conclusions.  But the policy proposals we have seen so far are too weak.  Innovation, employment and environmental protection must set the real price of resource and environmental pressures."
EEB and DNR believe that to survive, this initiative needs specific policy measures and institutional support  in the form of strong EU conclusions on the Commission's Green Paper on Market Based Instruments, as well as political support from European economic and finance ministers.  The two organisations see the need for both European-level initiatives and national commitment and implementation of these policies.  "The implementation gap at national level should be addressed through strong financial incentives, ecological standards and substantive steps.  One green test for the future is to see whether the current technology used for mobile air conditioning can be transformed by 2011 into a more ecological alternative,"  said Jürgen Resch, DNR board member. 

The conference assembled 120 participants from civil society organisations, representatives from the German Government, several other EU Member States, trade unions, the European Commission and academia, to discuss how to advance innovation and employment, and environmental protection.

For further information please contact:-
John Hontelez, Secretary General, European Environmental Bureau: hontelez@eeb.org; Tel: +32 (0)2 289 1091. Mobile: +32 (0)486 51 21 27
Markus Steigenberger, DNR: Tel: +49 (0)160 9054 4817
Peter Clarke, Press & Publications Officer: press@eeb.org; Tel: +32 (0)2 289 1309

For link to "Environment, Innovation and Employment", visit: www.eeb.org