Some of the provisions of a proposed air quality directive are excessive for small member states, said Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Petros Xenophontos during a round table discussion during the Environment Council of the EU which was held in Luxembourg on Tuesday, according to a statement.
Xenophontos welcomed the ambition of the proposal, noting, however, that some provisions, such as the need to install two monitoring stations, are too much for small member states.
Taking into account that Cyprus and the entire Mediterranean region has high ozone concentrations, he recommended that the new directive should lay out a methodology to exclude ozone exceedances due to meteorological conditions and/or transboundary pollution.
Speaking during the discussion during which the 27 Ministers arrived at the Council of the EU's position on the proposal for a regulation on nature restoration (ahead of negotiations with the European Parliament), Xenophontos said that Cyprus supports the Swedish Presidency's proposal and underlined both the need to provide flexibility to Member States and the need to ensure the self-sufficiency of primary production. The Minister also advocated for appropriate funding, citing the high financial cost of implementing the proposed protection measures.
The ministers also discussed the modification of carbon dioxide emission standards for trucks, in the context of the completion of the "Fit for 55" package of climate proposals.
The Environment Minister welcomed the Commission's proposal, describing the proposed emission reduction targets up to 2040 as balanced and necessary to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. He also welcomed the Commission's proposal to impose zero carbon emissions on new urban buses from 2030.
Xenophontos also supported a Czech proposal to adopt a tool to promote the circular economy such as a lower VAT rate for recyclable/recycled products.
He also recommended caution regarding legal aspects of such a tool, such as whether the rate would vary by product category, the percentage of recycled content and the appropriateness of the use of recycled content in products in relation to their use.
During a working lunch, the Environment Ministers also exchanged views on the road to the COP28 climate change summit, which is scheduled to take place in December 2023 in Dubai.
Source: Cyprus News Agency