By Brian Johnson - 4th May 2006
A bitter war of words is threatening to further polarise the debate on EU chemicals policy.
Accusations by environmental group Greenpeace, that insider Brussels lobbying by Europe’s chemical companies is seeking to undermine the effectiveness of the EU’s controversial REACH chemicals legislation, have been strongly condemned by the European commission.
Just one day after the commission launched a new initiative to control excessive lobbying, Greenpeace released a report claiming that the chemicals industry was trying to kill off REACH, and accused Brussels of operating a “revolving door” policy allowing ex-chemicals industry employees to influence the scope of the proposals.
The environmental pressure group singled out three commission employees, which they claimed had previously worked for the chemicals industry.
The commission on Thursday responded by accusing Greenpeace of “unfounded allegations” and “sloppy research” after FT Europe named the officials.
“[Reach] is a highly technical and complicated issue. The European commission needs a certain expertise in order to deal with these issues,” said a commission spokesman on Thursday afternoon.
“The fact that the commission has employed people, who formerly worked for one side or the other, be it the chemicals industry or the environment is by no means something that should be presented as criminal.”
“Regarding the three individuals that have been singled out, they have never actually worked on REACH. So it is a mystery to me how one can possibly try to construct a claim of revolving doors, [or] improper behaviour.”
“I utterly find these allegations unfounded, unfair and based on sloppy research,” said the commission spokesman.
But Greenpeace said they stood by their claims, publishing a range of evidence to back their position.
“Is the commission seriously denying that these three people have ever worked on REACH?” said Jorgo Riss of Greenpeace.
“The commission in its culture of secrecy seems to have been caught by surprise by our revelations, which are probably only the tip of the iceberg.”
“If the commission were serious about transparency, it would now publicise full information on all officials involved in drafting the REACH legislation since 1999 who have been or are currently employed by the chemicals industry and its lobbying organisations.”
Meanwhile, the Brussels based American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (Amcham EU) warned that REACH was likely “to cause massive product reformulations, business disruptions and unnecessary barriers to trade.”
And the European parliament’s divisive first reading position on tough chemical substitution rules for REACH is also likely to come under fire, as member states seek to water down the legislation ahead of agreeing a common position this month.
The EU’s council of ministers earlier this week released an assessment of the differences of opinion between national governments and the parliament, insisting that their position on chemical substitution was more balanced and workable than parliament’s position.
MEPs are set to return to REACH after the summer, when they will debate and vote on the controversial legislation’s second reading in Strasbourg in October.
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