Protection of the natural environment and biodiversity continues to be one of the European Union’s main objectives. The LIFE environment programme strengthens Europe’s natural capital and the ecosystem services associated with it, and helps generate green jobs, local entrepreneurship and smart and sustainable economic growth that promotes social inclusion – states the opinion by rapporteur Witold STĘPIEŃ (EPP/PL) on the Mid-term evaluation of the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) 2014-2020.
Document adopted by the European Committee of the Regions' ENVE Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy reiterates its strong support for LIFE, as an independent, directly managed funding programme, entirely dedicated to the environment, to be continued after 2020, and for a serious increase in its budget.
"We are concerned about the limited budget of the LIFE programme, which during the Multi-Annual Work Programme 2014-2020 represents only about 0.3% of the total amount of commitment appropriations. Regions and cities support a substantial increase in the programme's budget, to be applied after 2020" – explains Marshal of Łódzkie region.
The opinion stresses that the administrative burden related to the preparation and submission of the projects needs to be limited, as currently it often discourages the regions from applying for LIFE support. It also urges that synergies and a structured cooperation with other EU funds should be established.
"LIFE has to take into consideration and find a balance between environmental objectives and securing human safety, life and property. Measurements are needed in order to create consensus between different stakeholders" – argues Witold Stępień, encouraging the European Commission to include this issue in the project application as one of the criteria for its assessment.
The opinion will be subject to the final adoption vote at the CoR plenary session in February 2017.