Milieu: Commissie verwelkomt definitieve politieke overeenkomst over LIFE+ (en)

European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas welcomed the final political agreement reached by the Council and the European Parliament last night on the new `LIFE+' Financial Instrument for the Environment. The overall budget foreseen for LIFE+ is just under € 1.9 billion for the period 2007-2013 (in 2004 prices), i.e. very close to the amount initially proposed by the Commission. 78% of the budget is dedicated to project action grants and at least 50% of this has been reserved for spending on the "nature and biodiversity" part of the Programme.

"I would like to express my warm thanks to both the Parliament and Council for the efforts in finding a swift compromise on this vital instrument for the environment. While more funds will - and should - be spent on the environment through other funds such as the structural funds, the framework programme for research etc, the importance of LIFE+ is undeniable. Countless stakeholders are waiting for the first call for proposals under the new programme, which may be published shortly after the entry into force of the programme," said Commissioner Dimas.

LIFE+ will bring simplification by regrouping a broad range of existing environmental programmes and instruments in a single framework. These existing instruments include the current LIFE programme, the Forest Focus and Urban programmes, DG Environment's funding programme for environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and a general fund for policy development and implementation.

LIFE+ will address all four priority areas of the Sixth Environment Action Programme (6EAP, running from 2002 to 2012) - climate change; nature and biodiversity; health and quality of life; natural resources and waste - as well as the programme's seven Thematic Strategies.

The new programme is divided into three strands:

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  LIFE+ Nature and Biodiversity focusing on the implementation of the EU directives on the conservation of habitats [1] and of wild birds [2], as well as further strengthening the knowledge needed for developing, assessing, monitoring and evaluating EU nature and biodiversity policy and legislation;
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  LIFE+ Environment Policy and Governance covering the other 6EAP priorities besides nature and biodiversity, as well as strategic approaches to policy development, implementation and enforcement;

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  LIFE+ Information and Communication on environmental issues

"The programme's focus on concrete measures will contribute to improving Europe's environment. In addition, strengthening networking, communication and environmental governance will help ensure that good practice is shared throughout Europe and feeds into policy making", Commissioner Dimas commented.

The overall budget agreed for LIFE+ follows the agreement on the Financial Perspectives reached in spring 2006. EUR 1 894 372 000 (in 2004 prices) is foreseen for the 7 years duration of the programme (2007-2013). It was agreed that at least 78% shall be used for project action grants, whereas the remaining 22% will be spent by the Commission on cross-cutting measures for the environment, such as impact assessments, communication, operational grants to NGOs, and spending in the context of combating climate change etc. At least 50% of the budgetary resources for LIFE+ dedicated to project action grants shall be allocated to support the conservation of nature and biodiversity. Commissioner Dimas commented: "The proportion of EU funding foreseen for nature and biodiversity is broadly unchanged from the current LIFE programme."

In this context the Commissioner declared that "a review of planned and committed spending on Natura 2000 will be undertaken based on information provided by the Member States, in time for the 2008/2009 review of the Financial Perspectives."

The LIFE+ programme will be centrally managed by the Commission as the previous LIFE programmes, and Commissioner Dimas said that he regards the Parliament's preference for keeping a centralised management of the Programme and the Council's acceptance of this approach as a sign of trust in the Commission.

Among its advantages, LIFE+ foresees more involvement of Member States in the definition of priorities as they may express national priorities to enable the proposed projects to respond to their various national and regional environmental needs. Another novelty is that the programme includes a provision to ensure a proportionate distribution of projects by establishing indicative national allocations based on a set of criteria, essentially population size and nature and biodiversity. Finally the Commission shall endeavour to ensure that at least 15% of the budget dedicated to project action grants is allocated to transnational projects.