Vol. 397 No. 9
237 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for the Environment the action he has taken to date to advance Ireland's Green Presidency of the EC Council, as promised by the Taoiseach in January 1990; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
The Environment Council meeting of 22 March, at which I presided, agreed a number of important environmental measures. These included the establishment of the European Environment Agency, a directive giving wide access to environmental information, two directives in the biotechnology area, an important resolution on waste management and a decision to extend the CORINE information programme. Policy debates took place on a proposal for vehicle emissions, the protection of the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect.
In the months prior to the meeting, I had a series of discussions with the Commission, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, various interested bodies and other Environmental Ministers to advance the business of the Council.
I hosted a very successful informal meeting of Environment Ministers on the weekend of 21/22 April at which were discussed two important themes of European significance: Co-operation between the EC and Eastern Europe and EFTA; and the environment and the Single Market.
The discussion on Eastern Europe laid the groundwork for a special meeting of EC Environment Ministers with their counterparts from certain central and Eastern European countries which I will host in Dublin Castle on 16 June and which will consider the possibilities for action in relation to the serious environmental situation in Eastern Europe.
The next formal meeting of the Environmental Council will take place on 7 June and will deal with further environmental measures, particularly in the waste and water quality areas, and will prepare the community position for (i) the June meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Montreal Protocol at which a major revision of th Protocol should be agreed and (ii) the Second World Climate Conference next November. Furthermore, the meeting of the European Council in Dublin in June is expected to agree a major Declaration on the Environment.
