Later this week, Denmark’s Presidency of the Council of the EU will officially be launched. These ‘Presidencies‘ rotate between countries, and see a different EU member-state take over the running of the Council every 6 months. Although the importance of the Presidencies have arguably decreased since the passing of the Lisbon Treaty, they are still a chance for each EU member-state to try and highlight certain issues on the EU’s agenda. Of course, the Eurozone crisis is going to play a big part on that agenda no matter what the Danish Presidency might do.
On 11 January, the European Commission will meet the Danish Government and an official opening ceremony will take place. The programme for the Danish Presidency (which was officially presented last week) clearly states that one of the priorities of the upcoming 6 months will be the environment: Denmark wishes to conduct the EU Presidency “as sustainably as possible”, “reducing the direct environmental impact of meeting activities simultaneously by displaying social and economic responsibility”.
What do YOU think? Is this the right focus? Is there room on the agenda for environmental sustainability to be one of the main issues for European leaders? Or should the Eurozone crisis be the only priority? Do you think concerns for the environment have been squeezed off the European agenda? Let us know your thoughts in the form below, and we’ll take them to policy-makers and experts (including a couple of Danish politicians) for their reactions.
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I am not sure if the word environment is correctly perceived outside of rudimentary definition by Albert Einstein – “Everything that is outside of one’s body” And what is really time within environment, as time today defines business venues – a function of some sort of reality perceptive society via development agendas of so called realistic political views.
Great idea. But the only logical step for such short term in office is that the president that comes should have a clear and transparent plan. Not only that but the plan should interface with the previous mandate so there is continuity in what is done. To solve the euro-zone crisis the we need to have continuity an cohesion in the decisions made.
In my humble opinion, focusing our attention to sustainable economy could not only end the eurozone crisis, but also make eu the leading economy in the world. Not that the economy is all that matters in this world, but it is certainly a very important part of our lives. If we also pay attention to building a society that is based on rational thought, we are on good path to brighter future.
A good initiative…But as Samo points out, a program for sustainable economy would be more spot on right now..But I trust he Danes will give their best self and their presidency will be successful. Well done to them for taking such initiative, we need a variety of opinions, voices and points of view and each country must bring something unique in the union. Looking forward to see what they will be doing…Good luck to them!
Well actually part of the solution of the crisis in the eurozone, this idea of the Danish presidency can be a very important point of support for the survival of the same.
Given the urgent need to create jobs, this may be one of those times when the world is evolving a new form on its way to achieving a more favorable reality within their own values.
Denmark is a nation that can be greatly affected by climate change, detected serious problems first line to the other maybe we are going unnoticed.
One thing you have to give them any reason, without a sustainable world very well that this economy has no future
The environment should always be among the top priorities of policy-makers. The crisis of the euro, should not dominate political talk, marginalizing the major challenges humanity will be facing in the upcoming years. A viable climate is much more important in the long-run than a functional monetary system. As for the systemic crisis of the euro, that will unfortunately not be sufficiently addressed by European leaders, since they have been focusing on the symptoms rather than the causes. The mire Europeans find their selves in, is of their own doing.
Environment is a very important issue and for that reason it has to be dealt separately engaging a specific summit. Simultaneously, environment needs funds which are not available at the moment. Consequently we have to focus on what will provide us with these funds and that is the real economy. First things first. Euro zone crisis is the No.1 issue seeking an immediate attention and solution and as I said before in order to find such a solution we have to restructure the political system first. Can we do this or we are running out of time?
All economical policies must be designed in accordance with environment. We are living on a planet that is unique. The planet lived before humans to exist and will live after humanity will disappear but the humanity can not live without a planet. We have nowhere else to go. In this moment we are exploiting the resources of the planet without any responsibility. There are 2 types of resources: physical (oil, metal, rock etc) and non-physical(time, knowledge, man power). The population of the world is growing. So the non-physical resources are growing too. People transform non-physical resources in money, but with money buy physical resources. This means that the economical activity is not linked at all of the real resources. Some resources can and must be replaced. Woods are one of them. Politicians are never interested in this. If you cut a tree you must plant 100 small trees because they must replace the oxygen of that one tree. This thing is not happening at all. The planet WILL FAIL to sustain us, so OUR CIVILIZATION WILL FAIL ! We need a new generation of politicians capable to understand that the economy must spend resources ONLY in the availalbele amount that can be replaced ! Is like in the hose. You have some money. You can invest in the house and buy food, ONLY in the quantity the money you have. The money of the planet are resources. We can’s afford to spend MORE than we are producing. We must REPLACE RESOURCES and PRDUCE RESOURCES AND CLEAN ENERGY !
In this moment the economy and the monetary system have NO LINK WITH THE REALITY OF THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES. This NON-RATIONAL style of economy MUST STOP !
For once, I think the article subject is a very poor question.
The EU environmental plan, just like the transport plan (to 2050) and energy plans, CAP reforms (which lean towards environmental issues) are all long term, publicly available policy documents.
All a national presidency of the EU does is allow a sovereign state to push what it sees as priorities for their 6 months.
It in no way stops the progress along previously agreed long term policy objectives and publicly available plans simultaneously, even if they are not getting the media spot-light.
Does progress on a long term agreed policy stop just because it doesn’t figure in a particular presidency’s priorities?
Probably not.
the sustanability already exists for every european country the rotation of the europe countries management shows that each european state should be informed of the culture and civilazation of the other european member states in order to understand and participate in decision as regards each european member state