EU Failing to "Green" Regional Aid Programmes, WWF Says
12/10/99
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Title: EU failing to "green" regional aid programmes - WWF
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 10, 1999
BRUSSELS - European Union governments are failing to take account of
environmental concerns in planning how they will spend billions of
euros of EU regional aid money, a leading environmental group said.
The World Wide Fund for Nature said programmes from five EU states
setting out how they planned to spend EU "Structural Fund" grants
between now and 2006 had failed to respect environmental standards
which are a prerequisite for receiving the money.
A WWF study found that proposals from Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland
and Greece made little mention of basic EU environmental laws, failed
to set quantifiable objectives for nature conservation and fell short
of obligations in the EU's governing treaty to ensure "sustainable
development".
"EU member states are dragging their heels woefully," said Tony Long,
director of WWF's European Policy Office.
"They must be committed to implementing environmental legislation. We
ask that the funds be blocked until there is demonstrable evidence
that environmental directives will be implemented."
At stake are around 30 billion euros ($30.77 billion) a year in
regionaldevelopment aid for the poorest regions in the 15-member bloc
over the next seven years.
Long said there was still time to force governments to "green" their
programmes, as most had yet to submit their final, detailed spending
plans.