(07/11/05) Duitsland vraagt uitstel REACH-beslissing

• 2005-11-07

Merkel reveals the ugly face of the likely new government:

Germany requests delay on REACH decision

The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament strongly criticised the German government for acting solely in the short-term interests of the chemical industry by requesting a delay to a Council decision on REACH last Friday. After Parliament votes on REACH in plenary next week the Council was expected to adopt a political agreement in the competitiveness council at the end of November. Should that decision be postponed it would most likely be up to the conservative Austrian government to finalise negotiations when they take over the Presidency of the EU.

German Green member of the Parliament’s environment committee, Hiltrud Breyer , said:

"It is very depressing to see how the German chemical industry controls the incoming government like puppets on a string even before it reaches office. The former Red-Green government was a driving force in Council for a strong REACH legislation. But the likely CDU/CSU-SPD grand coalition has introduced itself with a big bang – by sabotaging two years of concerted work in Council in the final stretch. Why? Because the negotiations in Council and Parliament are not going the way their hard-line chemical multinationals want."

"These delaying tactics do not come as a surprise as far as the conservatives are concerned. The CDU/CSU has long shown itself to be the extended arm of the chemical industry and has repeatedly tried to delay the work on REACH when things were not going their way. in a desperate move, Hartmut Nassauer, leading the CDU/CSU delegation in the European Parliament, already called for a delay two weeks ago after his full-blown attack against REACH was overturned by the environment committee and disregarded by Council."

"But to see the Socialists selling out to the chemicals industry is shocking. It is bad enough that they seem to forget about the massive costs that chemicals cause to society every year in terms of damage to workers’ health, public health and the environment. But to believe that they can help big industry by slashing the requirements of REACH is plainly absurd. The weaker REACH becomes the less protection it will offer and the less confidence it will give to citizens about the safety of chemicals."

"I am ashamed that BASF seems to have been successful in forcing its corporate identity – 'the chemical company' – onto the likely next government: 'Germany - the chemical country’. With every new corporate-led attack against REACH, the chances of steering the chemical industry towards a path that is sustainable in the long-term is becoming ever more remote."