The final meeting of the Environmental Council to take place during the Hungarian Presidency was held on June 21. As a result of the successful work of the Presidency and in accordance with our plans, Europe has made significant progress in several important areas within the field of environmental protection.

By now it has become obvious that the preservation of dramatically endangered varied plant and animal life is at least as important for the survival of humanity as the fight against climate change. Despite the initially diverse points of view of the Member States and following a long and gripping debate, the Council Conclusions on the protection of biodiversity was eventually agreed upon by every Member State on the basis of the compromise text suggested by the Hungarian Presidency. This decision means that as an important part of the worldwide effort, new momentum has been provided to work targeting the protection of endangered species on the brink of extinction and the conservation of their natural habitats.

Today's agreement was an important prerequisite to enable the next, Polish Presidency to continue this work and successfully elaborate on the details of related measures.

The Hungarian Presidency of the European Union has always regarded water management policy as one of its top priorities. The active co-operation of the Hungarian Presidency has helped achieve a consensus between the Member States with regard to Council Conclusions on the future of Europe's water resources, which were adopted unanimously. The Ministers also discussed the expectations of the various Member States with regard to the so-called "Blueprint" Council principles on water management policy, planned for 2012, contributing significantly to the Commission's work. Environmental Commissioner Janez Potocnik especially thanked Hungary for once again making water management an important focus of interest. The Commissioner commended the validity and varied subject matter of the text of the Council Conclusions finalised under the leadership of the Hungarian Presidency.

We have presented the Commission with a report on progress successfully achieved during talks on two significant pieces of legislation: the amendment of the directive on the banning and restricting of the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for general cultivation, and the amendment of the directive on the prevention of serious accidents involving dangerous materials (Seveso III). With the creation of our concrete, textual compromise recommendations – albeit for the moment only a simple majority has been achieved and not a certified one – significant progress has been made in the field of GMOs under the Hungarian Presidency and the points of view of the various Member States have converged considerably as a result of the past six months of intensive discussions. As a result of the work of the Hungarian Presidency, there is a good chance that we will find a suitable solution to the general cultivation of GMOs, as well as for the clarification of all the problems and doubts that have arisen in connection with GMO crops. Such issues include the implementation of the 2008 Council Conclusions, environmental and food and feed risk assessment, the report on the economic and social effects of the cultivation of GMOs, and the comprehensive review of the European regulation of GMOs due in 2012.

The Hungarian Presidency has achieved significant success in the field of Environmental Protection over the past six months, during which time the Committee discussed over forty issues.

The fact that after more than two years of conciliatory talks a unanimous agreement was successfully reached on the amendment of the directive on the collection and recycling of electric and electronic waste, under the leadership of Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas, was viewed by diplomats in Brussels as a feat of negotiation genius. Ministers attending the meeting of the Environmental Council in March came to the decision that four years after the amendment comes into force 45% of such waste must be collected, with the ratio rising to 65% after a further four years.

Another notable success was the adoption of Council Conclusions on the review of the Mercury Strategy. Today, increased attention is being paid to combating the harmful effects of mercury and mercury-containing products on health and the environment. The Mercury Strategy has specified 20 Union- and International-level measures to decrease mercury emissions.

(Press Office of the Ministry for Rural Development)