Cyprus’ Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment Nicos Kougialis appealed today to his European counterparts for help to fight the huge fires raging on the island since Sunday.
He also sought EU assistance to address the large ecological disaster from the devastating fires.
Speaking at the EU Environment Council, in Luxembourg, the Minister expressed sorrow for the tragedy that has occurred due to the fires of the past two days and sympathy to all those affected. He wished the fire raging in the Solea region immediately be put under control and expressed his thanks to all those involved in efforts to extinguish the fires for their superhuman effort.
As part of regular proceedings, the Minister intervened both on the issue of the revision of the emissions trading system and the issue of transition to the so called circular economy, and the directive on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants.
On the emissions trading system , Kougialis said that Cyprus supports in general the proposal of the European Commission and asked for the percentage of allowances to be auctioned to remain unchanged at 57 % . He welcomed the opportunity provided for an exception to the system concerning small contaminants and requested guidance from the Commission on this issue.
In the ensuing discussion of information from the Presidency in relation to the progress on the proposed Directive on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants, the Minister stressed the need to set realistic and achievable emission reduction targets, while recognizing that the implementation of the proposal will contribute to achieving a higher level of protection of human health and the environment.
Regarding the conclusions on the European Commission’s “Circular Economy” proposal, the Minister of Environment welcomed the Presidency’s text which included reports important to Cyprus, regarding water management and in particular the recycled water as well as references to the waste management hierarchy and market creation secondary raw materials .
Finally, Minister Kougialis stressed that European targets for recycling, landfill waste and the issue of non-EU waste exports, should be considered carefully and after proper evaluation of the pertaining definitions.
