Trade Commissioner Dombrovskis is pushing for new regulations on waste and forest protection to be weakened due to resistance at the WTO.
Brussels. The result could hardly have been much clearer: with 587 votes in favor and eight against, on 27 February in Strasbourg, the European Parliament voted in favor of amending the waste shipment regulation, previously agreed with the Council (33 representatives abstained). “The EU will finally take responsibility for its plastic waste, banning its export to non-OECD countries”, rejoiced the parliamentary negotiator, Danish Christian Democrat Pernille Weiss. But at the same time, Valdis Dombrovskis, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for trade policy, had to hear harsh criticism of this export ban in Abu Dhabi. Several developing countries complained to him during the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference that the EU was indirectly imposing environmental standards on them.