Government under Pressure to Resolve EU Agreements on Green Issues
08 October 2012 - The Prime Minister is currently facing pressure from the Tory right to adopt a more confrontational approach to the EU’s Green agenda, with Europe's Environment Chief speaking out against critics of environmental regulations for making "untrue" claims.
Janez Potocnik, the European Environment Commissioner, has said in an interview with the Guardian that for politicians to suggest that Green legislation is a burden is "very unhelpful, because it is untrue".
He further commented that "rhetoric is missing the point - the economy needs the environment, and the environment needs the economy."
Potocnik's statements arrive as David Cameron prepares to a major speech later this autumn about how he will give voters a say, possibly in a referendum, over Britain's relationship with the EU in terms of a greater fiscal co-ordination in the Eurozone when it comes to the Green agenda.
It is expected that Britain will not be part of any new governance arrangements for the Eurozone, but it will have a veto in the treaty negotiations.
One of the most salacious Green issues between the UK and EU has been a failure to meet air pollution targets – the British Government might be liable for fines that could run into hundreds of millions because London's air has repeatedly breached maximum pollution levels.