toitototototoot Preparatory meeting for a workshop on nature, biodiversity, marine & water policies Some remarks & ideas Nicolas Rouyer, water, marine & biodiversity Directorate / France Brussels, 21 May 2014 Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement durable et de l'Énergie www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr

Cross cutting action is needed toitototototoot Cross cutting action is needed Our EU water, marine & nature policies have been developped in parallel but reality is that the 3 areas are linked. Our EU policy needs to be adapted consequently. Environment protection is not high in the agenda at COM and in MS, we need to merge forces to be more convincing towards political level & Society and to be more efficient

What can we expect from a workshop? toitototototoot What can we expect from a workshop? To ensure full involvement, clarification is needed on what will be allowed with that workshop: Will that be just another « group therapy »? Will that be used to reform the CIF, CIS, MCIS? Will that be clearly used for the Refit exercise or for the coming directive revisions?

Better consistency & coordination is the priority toitototototoot Better consistency & coordination is the priority Integration of the environmental objectives of the directives is a long term goal, what the MS need right now is consistency & coordination in the EU legislation. We need to avoid conflicts between directives. Some aspects of implementation can be clearly harmonised: timing, assessment, reporting, monitoring, public consultation, programmes of measures.

Better consistency & coordination is the priority toitototototoot Better consistency & coordination is the priority Exemple in France: national instructions to coordinate WFD & MSFD, to coordinate MSFD & N2000. This shows that it is possible and this should be enhanced by the EU policies. Coordination & streamlining is also needed beyond the 3 areas, with the different related EU sectoral policies. COM & MS need to work hand in hand to improve this. Cooperation not conflict.

The funding issue Obstacles when funding the environment: toitototototoot The funding issue Obstacles when funding the environment: Obstacles met in the preparation of the next generation of European funding: -> DG Regio sceptical about funding the environment through EU funding (ESIF) -> DG Env limited influence Limitations met with State Aid rules: -> MS have to systematically notify any State Aid when funding the environment -> MS funding the environment beyond the income foregone are risking infringement

The data issue Issues raised by data & information sharing toitototototoot The data issue Issues raised by data & information sharing Transparency is essential and compliance checking needs to be done by the European Commission We also need knowledge at EU level to adapt the policies A gentleman’s agreement between the Commission & the Member States is needed so there is confidence when sharing information beyond legal requirements

The communication issue toitototototoot The communication issue Thanks to the EU policies, progress has been achieved on environmental protection in Europe (higher standards, common rules, cooperation between MS on shared issues,…) but a lot remains to be done. Acceptance & political support remain an issue, we need : -> to communicate more on the environmental challenges -> to communicate more positively on the progress brought by the EU policies, on success stories -> to communicate more on the economical growth & jobs it brings.

Thank you for your attention toitototototoot Thank you for your attention