Of course the Commission, which retains the right of initiative in the new constitutional treaty, will continue to generate new proposals and new ideas. But the stage will be more crowded and from time to time the chorus will be more threatening than supportive. To my mind the European Union needs to emphasise three aspects of environmental policy if this policy is to remain at the forefront of European activities that people respect and support. First, it needs to be much more explicit about the benefits of the policies it puts forward, and it needs to make absolutely sure that it has the objective evidence to support its claims. It should not therefore be wary of the setting up of an office for the whole EL) equivalent to the US Office of Management and Budgets, so that we can gradually build up confidence that someone above the fray is doing the sums for us. Secondly it needs to continue to be an active player on the international stage and persevere in the Kyoto discussions and policy consequences, even against US opposition and Russian equivocation. We should have the courage of our convictions and implement policies limiting greenhouse gases even if we know that EU industry will be disadvantaged. It is only by doing this that we have the slightest chance of eventually bringing on board in some way those developing countries whose own emissions pose the greatest threat to the future of the planet.
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