Highlights:

•    The EU Environment Ministers adopted a general approach with regard to the proposed revision of the Waste Directive.  The discussion focused, among other things, on the problem of food waste generation.
•    The EU environment ministers also adopted a position on the proposal for a directive to justify and provide clear environmental statements. This legislation will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of economic operators who take measures to improve the environmental sustainability of their products or activities.
•    The meeting also agreed on an approach to the Soil Monitoring Directive.  The proposed legislation is an initiative to improve the state of soils in the EU for the benefit of the environment in the future.

Revision of the Waste Directive

As the Head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment stated, Poland supports Member States' proposal to increase flexibility in national food waste prevention measures and programmes.

At the same time, we believe that the food waste reduction targets included in the proposal are so ambitious that they should not be increased further during the negotiations with the European Parliament,

- she said.

At the same time, the Minister stressed that Poland supports the adoption of a general approach concerning this draft Directive.

Tackling greenwashing

The EU environment ministers also adopted a general approach concerning the directive to justify and transmit explicit environmental statements.

Current EU legislation on protecting consumer interests needs to respond to emerging environmental claims that make it difficult for consumers to make sustainable purchases.  This phenomenon is commonly referred to as greenwashing,

- said Deputy Minister Mikołaj Dorożała.

As Minister Mikołaj Dorożała emphasised, consumers are deprived of correct information on the environmental characteristics of a product and the company's activities and their positive, neutral or negative impact on the environment.

The introduction of specific requirements for all environmental claims will contribute to the transparency and credibility of such labelling and enable consumers to make more optimal decisions,

- he added.

The draft directive is expected to improve the competitiveness of economic operators who take steps to improve the environmental sustainability of their products or activities.

Soil monitoring

The meeting also agreed on the approach to the soil monitoring directive.  Deputy Minister Mikołaj Dorożała recalled that due to the great diversity of soils in the EU, Poland pointed out the need to ensure adequate flexibility in terms of planned solutions and indicators, considering national specificities, and limiting the administrative burden.  For Poland, provisions relating to the issue of land acquisition were also problematic.

The issue of soil protection has aroused so much emotion for many years that it was impossible to regulate it at the European Union level.  We have finally agreed, and I believe we will adopt a general approach today,

- noted Mikołaj Dorożała.
 

An essential issue for Poland is the exclusion of areas related to state security. The current draft allows for appropriate treatment of these areas at the level of Member States, so we are in a position to accept a compromise,

- he informed.

Polish objections to the new regulations on the protection of resources

The EU Environment Council on 17 June 2024 also adopted a regulation on the restoration of natural resources.  Twenty countries voted in favour of the regulation.  Belgium abstained from voting.  Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Poland  were against.
As Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska pointed out, Poland fully understands the need for effective measures to protect and restore natural resources, which are included in the EU regulation, and the many voices of NGOs, scientific communities, and other Member States supporting this act.

Unfortunately, we cannot support this regulation due to the discrepancies between the objectives of protection and restoration of ecosystems and the methods of their implementation.  We do not support it because of the excessive administrative burden and, above all, the lack of a long-term financial plan,

- she explained.

From the beginning of the work on the NRL, Poland has consistently raised the issue of the failure to guarantee adequate financial resources for the fulfilment of the regulation's obligations.

We would nevertheless like to thank the French, Swedish, Spanish and Belgian Presidencies for their efforts to reach a compromise during negotiations on the regulation.  It is crucial that the EC works on a budget to support this reform in the individual Member States,

-concluded Paulina Hennig-Kloska.

Bilateral meetings

On the sidelines of the Environment Council meeting, the Head of the Climate and Environment Ministry met with her German counterpart, Steffi Lemke.  Topics of discussion included the illegal shipment of waste from Germany to Poland and Polish-German cooperation in protecting the Oder River.
Minister Hennig-Kloska also held talks with Czech Minister of the Environment Petr Hladík.  Deputy Minister Mikołaj Dorożała, meanwhile, participated in a coordination meeting of V4 environment ministers.