Document JryV1G3K36EJVxQY0aL4Xw2J2

From: Sent: To: Subject: PF Sant Publique - FOD Volksgezondheid) jeudi, 4 janvier 2024 11:35 FW: Belgium in the hot seat Info reue d'une RP Peut-tre faire circuler, mais je vous laisse juge. Von: POLITICO Pro Sustainability Insights Europe Gesendet: Dienstag, 2. Januar 2024 16:00:36 (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna An: .BRUEEU POL-PR-1-EU Fricke, Julian Christopher Wilhelm Betreff: Belgium in the hot seat Your daily di gest of all things sustainabil ity. By LEONIE CATE R with LOUISE GUILLO T TODAY'S TO P LINE -- We have a c hea t sheet with ever ything you nee d to know about the Bel gian presidency. Happy New Year! As we roll into 2024, Bloo mberg has pe nned a list of 12 new yea r's resolutions for more sustainable l iving -- includin g learning t o spot greenwashing. Share your tips, tricks and tales with Loui se Guillot at lguillot@politico.eu and Leonie Cater at lcater@politico.eu. Find us on X at @l_ guillot and @LeonieA Cater, and on B luesky at @l-g uillot.bs ky.social and @leo niecater.bsky.socia l. BELGI AN PRE SIDEN CY BELGIU M TAKE S THE REINS: T he Belgian s are in the dr iving sea t of the Counci l of the EU as of Monday. Le t's take a look at what's in store for the next six mon ths, includi ng upco ming challen ges, pe ople to know and key files. Tricky t iming: Belgium face s a diff icult pre sidency c alenda r, one that ca used organizational heada che s in the run-up to the ha ndover. Not o nly must key legislative files be wrapped up by February so they don' t fall throu gh the leg islati ve c racks a hea d of the Europe an Par liament election in June, b ut the coun try itself will be preparing for a n election on June 9. More on that from my col leagues Bar bara, Camille and P ieter here. Looking at you , Budapes t: Belgium will also see k to influenc e the age nda of the next European Co mmission, while keeping an e ye on the coun try that is due t o succ ee d it in the Co uncil pre sidenc y: Hungar y, led b y Euroske ptic Pri me Min ister Vik tor Orbn. It's comp licated: Belgian po litics are pretty complex. As if the thre e regions and their individual co mpetenc ies we ren't enough, the fede ral government, led by Alexande r De Croo , is a seve n-party cabinet cons isting of 14 ministers in a c oalition of the Flemi sh Open Vl d, sp.a, CD&V and Groen, and the Walloon Mouve ment Rformateur, Parti Social iste a nd Ecolo. (No t) on the sa me page: Bu t while Belgium tries to present a un ified voice in the EU, its plet hora of poli tical parties mea ns it doesn' t always come ac ross that way, as our rece nt interviews with (staunchly anti-Gree n Deal) Agriculture Minister David Clarinval and (staunc hly pro-Gree n Deal) Brussels Region Minister for Climate and E nviron ment Alain Maron show. Brus sels to Brussel s: Neve rtheless, the government has said t hat it w ill put the bloc' s ene rgy and cli mate transit ion at t he he art of its prior ities. Sustainabil ity wishlist: The list of files Belgium hopes to fina lize dur ing its presidency includes ne w sus tainable pac kaging ru les, the revisi on of EU waste wa ter treatment rules, new CO 2 standards for truc ks , a c arbon removals ce rtifica tion framewor k, a proposal to restrict the use of mercury, and the revision of EU a ir quality guideli nes. More de tail s in Louise's in terview with Maron here. Names to kn ow: The Belgian decis ion maker s who m sustainabi lity wonks should watch o ut for in the coming months include... -- Alain Maron, Brus sels' e nviron ment and c limate m inister, will be in the driv ing seat of the presidency. As per Bel gium's own rotat ing system to represent the country in the Counci l on enviro nmental matters -- as this is a re gional co mpetenc e -- M aron will play a key ro le in ong oing talks. Maron is a me mber of the franc ophone gree n party Ecolo and has be en in charge of the gree n transition of the region of Bru ssels since 2019. To gether with his gree n collea gue Zakia Khattabi and Barba ra Tra chte, he'll lea d Ecolo's list for the Belg ian regional electi on in June. -- David Clarinval, Belg ium's federal agriculture m inister, who is going to be particularly busy in the next months try ing to find conse n sus amo ng the EU2 7 about the Co mmissio n's proposal to halve pe s ticides u se by m id-ce ntury. Government s still have to agree on their c ommon pos itio n on the file, while the Parliament alre ady rejected the proposal altogether in November. -- Zakia Kha ttab i is Belgium's fe deral environment and climate minister in charge of the Gree n Deal. She's bee n a strong advoca te for ambitious green policies at the EU level and called f or s tronger efforts to address pol lution from p lastic and PFAS substance s, als o known as foreve r chemica ls. Khattabi als o announc ed in De ce mber that she will run for the pos t of m inister-president of the r egion of Brussel s in June's electio n. -- Frd rique Ries, the Rene w Europe M EP from Belg ium who's lea ding the Parlia ment's wor k on the Packaging and Pac kaging Was te Regulation. -- Pierre Cartuyvels, the Core per I ambassador who wa s appoin ted in 20 20, and h is right hand, T imon Bo Salomonson. Cartuyvels will oversee the wor k on al l sustainabil ity files during the presidency a nd represent EU c ountries during inter-institu tional nego tiations. He'll have to make pr ogress on a number of files includ ing the Green Claims Directive, t he Rig ht to Repair Dire ctive, the revision of air quality ru les, the pa cka ging and pac kaging wa ste re gulatio n and the review of urban waste wa ter treatment rules. He 's also expe cted to finalize negot iation s on the Net Zero Industry Act and the carbon removals ce rtifica tion framew ork. -- Belg ium's team of attach s, who are the experts of the permanent representation on all things sustainabil ity. That includes Stpha n ie Bac lin, who coordinates the environmen t team; Ad ly Man seri, who dea ls with chemicals and products policy; Cline Ubbelohde, who works on env ironmen t and energy issues; Joanna De Smedt, in charge of climate files; Marie Ve nnin, al s o an e nvironment attach; and Marjan De croos, who works on environ mental issues for the Flem ish regional government. There is also A mandine Deswert, who w orks on crit ical raw materials and NZI A, and Quir ine Orye, who is tasked with follow ing ani mal welfare legislation. WASTE NATIONAL W ASTE RU LES OV ERHAUL : With a new year come new rules -- includi ng on was te and pac kaging. In the Ne therlands , for exa mple, as of Mo nday c ustomers ea ting or dri nking in hotels, ca fes or restaurants won't rec eive disposable cups or container s with plast ic in t hem. "Reusab le tableware is the stand ard," writes the national go vernment. Offices, c ompany canteens, schools, sports cl ubs, ass ociations, closed e vents and amusement parks have a lso had t o swi tch to re usable cups a nd con tainer s from Monday. Plast ic prohibition: Over in Franc e, businesses had u ntil Dec ember 31 to get rid of plastic packa ging for fruit and ve getables, exce pt for 29 prod ucts. Franc eInfo has more here. Milking it: Also fro m Monday, in Ge rmany a de po sit of at least 25 cents must also be c harged on m ilk, mixed milk drinks and dairy products in single-use p lastic bo ttles, w hich wil l be returned to cus tomers whe n they return the empty bottles to a de posit machine. Th is also app lies to coc oa, c offee drinks, kefir or yogurt. According to the environ ment m inistry, in fu ture, empty b ottles of mi lk and mixed milk drinks ca n be returned whereve r drinks are sold in single-use plastic b ottles, like in supermarkets. The de posit requirement has be en in effect for most sin gle-use plastic beverage bottles si nce 2022. Coming up : By the end of th is year, EU countries w ill have to ensure that prod uce r responsibility sche mes are established for all packa ging. CLI MATE IM PACT S HEATING U P: Wha t's hot in 2024 ? The p lanet. A stron g El N io event is boosting global temper atures on to p of man-made warmin g, and m any sc ientists expe ct thi s yea r to temp orarily breac h the 1.5 degree Celsiu s threshol d. Thi s woul dn't yet cons titute a brea ch of the Paris Agree ment target, wh ich refers to long-term war ming. More weather extremes to come: Europe 's Co pernicus climate c hange service reckons that El Nio will peak in the next two m onths, but the pheno menon's influenc e on global average temper atures is typ ically grea test after its pea k. That could mean more record temper atures, a s well as other e xtreme events -- warmer ocea n temper atures ca n fuel storm s and he avy prec ipitat ion. Unpre ce dented floodi ng in Ger many : Seve ral rivers burs t their bank s follow ing intense rainfall in northwe ster n Germany after Christmas. "W e ha ve ne ver had a flood of this magnitu de be fore," said Stefan W eil, premier of Lowe r Saxon y, noting: "Experts have bee n warning for a long time t hat the increasing ly fre quent extreme we ather events are linked to climate c hange ." The region mob ilize d so me 100,0 00 peop le to combat the floods. More hea vy rain is expe cted this week. Sever al regions in Franc e a nd Belgium are a lso on flood alert. POLL UTION BELGIUM POSTPONES D ECISION ON DOME STIC FLIGHT BAN : The Be lgian gover n ment wil l study t he e conomic i mpact of domes tic fligh ts, wh ich Transpo rt Minister Georges Gilkine t had propo sed to ban. A t a De ce mber 22 government meeting, center-right parties Mouvemen t Rformateur, Open VLD and CD &V aske d for more precise data on the po tential impact of such a ban o n regional airports, Le So ir re ported. ICYMI: In 2022 Belgium recorded 1,822 domestic flights -- includin g 402 movement s betwe en Brus sels and Lige airports (a distanc e of about 85 kilometer s); 273 betwe en Brussels and Char leroi (55 km); and 242 betwe en Bru ssels and A ntwerp (less than 40 km). Most of tho se flights we re by private jets. G ilkine t's dra ft targets bo th airlines and private jets -- which, the mi nister argued, a re 11 times more polluting per passenger than lar ge a irplane s, and 50 t imes more polluting per passenger than tra ins. More on that here. GREEN GLANCES Doc tors at Lond on's Grea t Ormond Street Hosp ital for Children are be ing encouraged to consider a ir pollution levels at their patients' h ome addresses whe n assessing the c ause s of their illne sses, under a new pilot scheme. The Guardian has the story . Reuters reports that Braz il is fig hting illegal gold mining as i t sprea ds from Ind igenous lands in to government-protected conse rvation are as. A study of the hairs of 50 species from Polan d's Bial owie a Fore st, col lected over seven de ca des, revea ls the invis ible ef fects of f ossil fuel e miss ions. Read the full story in El Pas. TH ANKS to: Tommaso Lecc a, Zia Weise, Antonia Zi mmermann, Camille Gij s and Barto sz Brz ez iski. Your daily digest o f all things sustainability. 1 View in your browser or listen to audio By LEONIE CATER with LOUISE GUILLOT TODAY'S TOP LINE -- We have a cheat sheet with everything you need to know about the Belgian presidency. Happy New Year! As we roll into 2024, Bloomberg has penned a list of 12 new year's resolutions for more sustainable living -- including learning to spot greenwashing. Share your tips, tricks and tales with Louise Guillot at lguillot@politico.eu and Leonie Cater at lcater@politico.eu. Find us on X at @l_guillot and @LeonieACater, and on Bluesky at @l-guillot.bsky.social and @leoniecater.bsky.social. BELGIAN PRESIDENCY BELGIUM TAKES THE REINS: The Belgians are in the driving seat of the Council of the EU as of Monday. Let's take a look at what's in store for the next six months, including upcoming challenges, people to know and key files. Tricky timing: Belgium faces a difficult presidency calendar, one that caused organizational headaches in the run-up to the handover. Not only must key legislative files be wrapped up by February so they don't fall through the legislative cracks ahead of the European Parliament election in June, but the country itself will be preparing for an election on June 9. More on that from my colleagues Barbara, Camille and Pieter here. Looking at you, Budapest: Belgium will also seek to influence the agenda of the next European Commission, while keeping an eye on the country that is due to succeed it in the Council presidency: Hungary, led by Euroskeptic Prime Minister Viktor Orbn. It's complicated: Belgian politics are pretty complex. As if the three regions and their individual competencies weren't enough, the federal government, led by Alexander De Croo, is a seven-party cabinet consisting of 14 ministers in a coalition of the Flemish Open Vld, sp.a, CD&V and Groen, and the Walloon Mouvement Rformateur, Parti Socialiste and Ecolo. (Not) on the same page: But while Belgium tries to present a unified voice in the EU, its plethora of political parties means it doesn't always come across that way, as our recent interviews with (staunchly anti-Green Deal) Agriculture Minister David Clarinval and (staunchly pro-Green Deal) Brussels Region Minister for Climate and Environment Alain Maron show. Brussels to Brussels: Nevertheless, the government has said that it will put the bloc's energy and climate transition at the heart of its priorities. Sustainability wishlist: The list of files Belgium hopes to finalize during its presidency includes new sustainable packaging rules, the revision of EU waste water treatment rules, new CO2 standards for trucks, a carbon removals certification framework, a proposal to restrict the use of mercury, and the revision of EU air quality guidelines. More details in Louise's interview with Maron here. Names to know: The Belgian decision makers whom sustainability wonks should watch out for in the coming months include... 2 -- Alain Maron, Brussels' environment and climate minister, will be in the driving seat of the presidency. As per Belgium's own rotating system to represent the country in the Council on environmental matters -- as this is a regional competence -- Maron will play a key role in ongoing talks. Maron is a member of the francophone green party Ecolo and has been in charge of the green transition of the region of Brussels since 2019. Together with his green colleague Zakia Khattabi and Barbara Trachte, he'll lead Ecolo's list for the Belgian regional election in June. -- David Clarinval, Belgium's federal agriculture minister, who is going to be particularly busy in the next months trying to find consensus among the EU27 about the Commission's proposal to halve pesticides use by mid-century. Governments still have to agree on their common position on the file, while the Parliament already rejected the proposal altogether in November. -- Zakia Khattabi is Belgium's federal environment and climate minister in charge of the Green Deal. She's been a strong advocate for ambitious green policies at the EU level and called for stronger efforts to address pollution from plastic and PFAS substances, also known as forever chemicals. Khattabi also announced in December that she will run for the post of minister-president of the region of Brussels in June's election. -- Frdrique Ries, the Renew Europe MEP from Belgium who's leading the Parliament's work on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. -- Pierre Cartuyvels, the Coreper I ambassador who was appointed in 2020, and his right hand, Timon Bo Salomonson. Cartuyvels will oversee the work on all sustainability files during the presidency and represent EU countries during inter-institutional negotiations. He'll have to make progress on a number of files including the Green Claims Directive, the Right to Repair Directive, the revision of air quality rules, the packaging and packaging waste regulation and the review of urban waste water treatment rules. He's also expected to finalize negotiations on the Net Zero Industry Act and the carbon removals certification framework. -- Belgium's team of attachs, who are the experts of the permanent representation on all things sustainability. That includes Stphanie Baclin, who coordinates the environment team; Adly Manseri, who deals with chemicals and products policy; Cline Ubbelohde, who works on environment and energy issues; Joanna De Smedt, in charge of climate files; Marie Vennin, also an environment attach; and Marjan Decroos, who works on environmental issues for the Flemish regional government. There is also Amandine Deswert, who works on critical raw materials and NZIA, and Quirine Orye, who is tasked with following animal welfare legislation. WASTE NATIONAL WASTE RULES OVERHAUL: With a new year come new rules -- including on waste and packaging. In the Netherlands, for example, as of Monday customers eating or drinking in hotels, cafes or restaurants won't receive disposable cups or containers with plastic in them. "Reusable tableware is the standard," writes the national government. Offices, company canteens, schools, sports clubs, associations, closed events and amusement parks have also had to switch to reusable cups and containers from Monday. Plastic prohibition: Over in France, businesses had until December 31 to get rid of plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables, except for 29 products. FranceInfo has more here. Milking it: Also from Monday, in Germany a deposit of at least 25 cents must also be charged on milk, mixed milk drinks and dairy products in single-use plastic bottles, which will be returned to customers when they return the empty bottles to a deposit machine. This also applies to cocoa, coffee drinks, kefir or yogurt. According to the environment ministry, in future, empty bottles of milk and mixed milk drinks can be returned wherever drinks are sold in single-use plastic bottles, like in supermarkets. The deposit requirement has been in effect for most singleuse plastic beverage bottles since 2022. Coming up: By the end of this year, EU countries will have to ensure that producer responsibility schemes are established for all packaging. 3 CLIMATE IMPACTS HEATING UP: What's hot in 2024? The planet. A strong El Nio event is boosting global temperatures on top of manmade warming, and many scientists expect this year to temporarily breach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold. This wouldn't yet constitute a breach of the Paris Agreement target, which refers to long-term warming. More weather extremes to come: Europe's Copernicus climate change service reckons that El Nio will peak in the next two months, but the phenomenon's influence on global average temperatures is typically greatest after its peak. That could mean more record temperatures, as well as other extreme events -- warmer ocean temperatures can fuel storms and heavy precipitation. Unprecedented flooding in Germany: Several rivers burst their banks following intense rainfall in northwestern Germany after Christmas. "We have never had a flood of this magnitude before," said Stefan Weil, premier of Lower Saxony, noting: "Experts have been warning for a long time that the increasingly frequent extreme weather events are linked to climate change." The region mobilized some 100,000 people to combat the floods. More heavy rain is expected this week. Several regions in France and Belgium are also on flood alert. POLLUTION BELGIUM POSTPONES DECISION ON DOMESTIC FLIGHT BAN: The Belgian government will study the economic impact of domestic flights, which Transport Minister Georges Gilkinet had proposed to ban. At a December 22 government meeting, center-right parties Mouvement Rformateur, Open VLD and CD&V asked for more precise data on the potential impact of such a ban on regional airports, Le Soir reported. ICYMI: In 2022 Belgium recorded 1,822 domestic flights -- including 402 movements between Brussels and Lige airports (a distance of about 85 kilometers); 273 between Brussels and Charleroi (55 km); and 242 between Brussels and Antwerp (less than 40 km). Most of those flights were by private jets. Gilkinet's draft targets both airlines and private jets -- which, the minister argued, are 11 times more polluting per passenger than large airplanes, and 50 times more polluting per passenger than trains. More on that here. GREEN GLANCES Doctors at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children are being encouraged to consider air pollution levels at their patients' home addresses when assessing the causes of their illnesses, under a new pilot scheme. The Guardian has the story. Reuters reports that Brazil is fighting illegal gold mining as it spreads from Indigenous lands into governmentprotected conservation areas. A study of the hairs of 50 species from Poland's Bialowiea Forest, collected over seven decades, reveals the invisible effects of fossil fuel emissions. Read the full story in El Pas. THANKS to: Tommaso Lecca, Zia Weise, Antonia Zimmermann, Camille Gijs and Bartosz Brzeziski. This email alert has been sent for your exclusive use as a POLITICO Pro subscriber. Forwarding or reproducing the newsletter without the express, written permission of POLITICO Pro is a violation of the POLITICO Pro license agreement. 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