On 19 May 2017, the Council of the European Union agreed on a negotiating mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament on all four legislative proposals on waste, which are part of the Circular economy package submitted by the Commission by the end of 2015. Before these proposals are approved both the European Parliament and the Council must give their green light. Negotiations for an agreement are expected to focus on a number of outstanding elements, including the definitions, the setting of binding targets and their calculation rules, end-of-waste criteria, extended producer responsibility schemes and waste prevention. EuCheMS has organised two circular economy related workshops – From Waste to Health and Protecting Endangered Elements.
Source: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/

The Council of the European Union has agreed on a general approach to reform the system of type-approval and market surveillance for motor vehicles. This major reform will modernise the current system, adapt it to new technologies available on the market and improve control tests on car emissions data, a process in which analytical chemistry takes part. All member states agreed to improve the harmonised implementation of the rules across the EU so as to reduce the possible differences in interpretation and application by national type-approval authorities and technical services. They also agreed that more effective market surveillance rules should apply to better detect non-compliance at an early stage.
Source: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/

The European Parliament has given its support to the Partnership on Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), an initiative aiming to develop much-needed solutions for a more sustainable management of water and agro-food systems. The main objective of the ten-year initiative (2018 – 2028), which is partly funded by EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020, is to develop solutions to improve water availability and sustainable agriculture production in a region heavily distressed by climate change, urbanisation and population growth. The partnership currently consists of 19 participating countries: Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/

Members of European Parliament stated at a plenary session earlier this month that correspondence from Monsanto (owner and producer of Roundup, a widely used herbicide based on the active substance glyphosate) which was recently disclosed, has shed doubt on the credibility of a number of Monsanto-sponsored studies. The studies were part of the evidence used by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to evaluate the safety of glyphosate but according to Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU agencies concluded that allegations stemming from “Monsanto papers”, if true, would have no impact on safety assessment conclusions. Some MEPs stressed that the substance’s safety assessment should be strictly science-based and that the process should steer clear of emotions. Others called for the launch of an independent review on glyphosate. Many MEPs agreed that low-risk herbicides should be better promoted.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/