I get the feeling that the DG Environment has last its way. From a political and legislative power house of the Commission in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, it has backed away.
Until a 7th Environmental Action Programme is adopted, the only clear, although not perhaps coherent record of what Europe’s environmental policy is and will be, lays with the September 20 Resource Efficiency Roadmap. You can read it here @
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency/pdf/com2011_571.pdf
The last page is the most interesting. It provides a clear chart of the scope of Europe’s environmental agenda for the next few years. You can see it below. But, was is absent is a serious discussion about non-implementation of Europe’s environmental laws. Companies playing the game straight are punished by governments who all too often simply ignore that many rules are not being implemented on the ground. If the rules were enforced we’d see an increase in the health of our planet and our families. Now, that would be a radical agenda. 