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Commissioner Wallström's Speech at the EP on Implementing the WSSD outcomes

At a time when it is more important than ever to anchor the European Community in society and to show that the Union is not just a club for top politicians, I welcome wholeheartedly this Inter-Group's commitment to promoting sustainable development.

Recent events in Sweden have had a very sobering effect on my country and Europe as a whole. The murder of a very committed fighter for democracy, a Europeanist and a great humanist, has had a profound impact.

Democracy and freedom from violence can never be taken for granted.

We must continuously strive to defend and nurture democracy and democratic engagement in all its forms.

We must create the conditions conducive to democracy:

• conditions that enable people to feel safe and secure;
  
  
• conditions that allow an open society and differences in opinions;
  
  
• but on the basis of shared values which must reject violence while embracing tolerance, co-operation and human safety.

People must always be at the centre of our policies.

This brings me naturally to sustainable development.

When sustainable development was conceived as a concept to ensure continuing human welfare, the discussion was not only driven by environmental considerations.

Sustainable development has at its core a strong human dimension.

It addresses the needs of future generations on a par with our needs today. It takes account of economic, social and environmental factors. As such, it forms part of the framework that we need to ensure democracy, peace and justice.

This applies as much to the international community as it does to our European project.

Johannesburg was to have been a step towards sustainable development. One year on, we already have some hindsight with which to assess what has been achieved - and what remains to be done - to implement the Summit's Plan of Action.

In my presentation, I will therefore address four issues.

First, I will recap on the outcomes of the WSSD. I can be extremely brief as I know that you are all familiar with these outcomes.

Second, I will explain what the European Union is doing to implement its commitments.

Third, I will highlight some of the next steps.

Finally, I will touch upon the question of procedures, institutions, and most importantly, the role of the European Parliament in helping us to deliver on our promises.

I. A Brief Reminder of the Main Outcomes of Johannesburg

We went to Johannesburg to try to revitalise the "spirit of Rio". I believe that - under difficult circumstances - we did manage to reconfirm the need for international co-operation to address global sustainability challenges.

At a time when the temptation to resort to unilateral action was stronger than ever, world leaders did emphasise that multilateralism is the most effective approach to combat poverty and promote sustainable development worldwide.

Another element that made Johannesburg so significant was the broad and active involvement of civil society. More than 200 partnerships for action were launched in areas as varied as water, energy, health, bio-diversity and agriculture.

The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation itself included several new targets with clear timetables:

• on access to sanitation;
  
  
• on minimising harmful effects of chemicals;
  
  
• on halting the decline of fish stocks; and,
  
  
• on halting the loss of biodiversity.

We also agreed to develop a ten-year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production.

Although we were not able to agree a specific target for renewable energy sources, we did reach an agreement on the need to urgently and substantially increase the global share of renewable energy sources.

And last but not least, there was the commitment that all countries should start implementing sustainable development strategies by 2005.

II. What has been done to Implement our WSSD Commitments?

One year ago I came to the Parliament and told you that the EU could be proud of the leadership role it played during the Johannesburg Summit.

I also told you that our slogan for the Summit would continue to guide us in the implementation phase - "from words to deeds".

So can we still be proud of our record over the last year? Have we moved to deeds?

Let me offer you my own political assessment at the outset:-

Work is in progress to implement our commitments across the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, both internally and externally. But the broader political and economic environment - and most recently the failure of the trade talks in Cancún - underline the scale of the challenge we face.

Immediately after the Johannesburg Summit, many of the commitments we had undertaken were fed into the EU Sustainable Development Strategy through the 2003 Synthesis Report. This resulted in the identification by the March European Council of five priorities for implementation:

• Policy coherence between our external commitments and our internal policies;
  
  
• Sustainable globalisation;
  
  
• Sustainable consumption and production patterns;
  
  
• Sustainable energy; and,
  
  
• poverty eradication.

Foremost among those priorities for me is policy coherence between external commitments and internal policies.

The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Fisheries Policy is a step in the right direction. But, further efforts are needed in these and in other important areas like energy and transport.

Our credibility will suffer if unsustainable trends persist or if our policies have detrimental impacts outside the EU, in particular on the development opportunities of the poorest countries.

In my opinion, Cancún shows that we need to look even more carefully at the external impact of our internal policies. Only then will we move towards our agreed goal of sustainable globalisation.

On sustainable consumption and production, the EU has been playing a leading role by promoting a broad mix of policies and tools such as:

• Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC);
  
  
• the eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) and eco labelling;
  
  
• as well as sectoral instruments in key areas such as energy or agriculture.

But we should not try to reinvent the wheel. That is why we are assessing the measures and instruments implemented so far and identifying gaps. We are also working with Member States to provide an overall assessment by the end of the year.

Last, but not least, poverty eradication has been and will continue to be at the centre of our WSSD commitments. This is a key issue when working towards the achievement of all internationally agreed development goals.

On the issue of financing for development, the Commission, as you know, has been asked by Members States to closely monitor the commitments made before the Monterrey conference. Continued efforts will be needed to stick to our commitments against a background of

sluggish economic growth and fiscal austerity.

III. So What Happens Next?

Under the guidance of myself and Poul Nielson, the Commission services are now preparing a stocktaking document on WSSD follow-up. This will be finalised by the end of this year and may also include proposals for further action.

In this stocktaking paper, the Commission plans to submit to the Parliament and to the Council a detailed report on the water and energy initiatives we launched at the Summit.

"Water for life" aims to bring sanitation and water to those who lack it most. It is unacceptable that 2.2 million people die each year from water related diseases. The EU initiative is focused on Africa, but will also cover other regions. A Ministerial conference in Addis Ababa in December of this year should help to develop ownership among all African stakeholders.

The Commission has tabled an ambitious proposal to allocate €1 billion from the European Development Fund to set up an EU Water Fund. This money is already reserved in the budget of the Fund but the Council has so far been reluctant to free up the resources.

The EU energy initiative for poverty eradication and sustainable development addresses access to affordable and sustainable energy services. Nearly 30 developing countries from three continents have joined the initiative.

To take it forward in Africa, the Commission will sponsor a high-level energy event, to be held in Nairobi, on 20-21 November 2003. As in the case of water, ownership and awareness in recipient countries are essential to make progress.

The EU also launched in Johannesburg the Renewable Energy Coalition, which by now has more than 80 members. Countries participating in this "OPEC of renewables" agreed to set themselves targets and timeframes for increasing the share of renewable energies in their overall energy mix.

In June, I hosted the first ministerial conference of the coalition where we discussed the way forward. The European Commission has accepted to host the coalition's secretariat. We will work intensively in the coming months to ensure the coalition is fully consolidated in time for the 2004 World Renewable Energy Conference in Germany.

IV. Procedures and Institutions

As you know very well, the fact that sustainable development is such a cross-cutting issue means that we need to make sure we get our procedures and institutions right.

There are two points I would like to make with regard to European co-operation on this matter.

First, by adding an external dimension to the Göteborg strategy, the EU Sustainable Development Strategy has become the main vehicle for the implementation of the Johannesburg commitments. Consistent with this approach, the Commission intends to continue addressing the follow-up to the WSSD in its annual Synthesis Reports in preparation for the Spring European Council meetings.

Second, the Commission is also undertaking an overall review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy to be ready by the time the new Commission takes office. The review, covering the period up until 2009, will further integrate WSSD implementation into the revised Strategy.

I would also like to say a few words about governance in the UN context.

Strengthened international governance for sustainable development is clearly an essential requirement for progress in WSSD implementation. In this regard, the European Council has stressed the need to reinforce the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and to consider its institutional upgrading by creating a UN Environment Agency.

This is an important objective and already now our interaction with UNEP must be enhanced. But sustainable development also needs to find a stronger voice across the existing UN architecture.

Two weeks ago the European Commission adopted a Communication on our co-operation with the United Nations. It was entitled "the choice of multilateralism" and in it we stated that:

"the EU should adopt a determined front-runner approach to the negotiation and implementation of important initiatives in the fields of sustainable development, poverty reduction and international security".

But we expect more of the UN system itself in helping us to play this role. So we also called upon the UN to follow more closely an approach based on benchmarking and clear targets in the follow-up to major Conferences such as WSSD.

V. Concluding Remarks

In concluding, let me welcome the support of the European Parliament - and in particular this Inter-Group - in pushing for the EU to lead the pack when it comes to delivering our Johannesburg commitments.

The active support and involvement of the European Parliament is more necessary than ever.

It is particularly important to ensure that the European Parliament plays an active role in the review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy.

I have already acknowledged that the Parliament was not sufficiently involved in the preparation of the Sustainable Development Strategy back in 2001. Now, it is essential that the review includes mechanisms to enable the Parliament to have a say in the review process.

I know that we can count on the continued support of this Inter-Group in this endeavour.

Thank you for your attention.

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