European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans has said that the Circular Economy Package will be withdrawn as he set out the Commission’s Work Programme for 2015.
However, he has promised to reintroduce a new package that would be “broader and more ambitious” and would not look at just “half the circular economy, but the whole of the circular economy”. By this he meant that the circular economy proposals were too focused on the waste elements.
Amid cries of “shame” from some MEPs as he announced the withdrawal of the current circular economy package, Frans Timmermans defended the decision to be more ambitious, but did not give details on what this ambition would entail.
He also said that he would work with the European Parliament to come up with an agreed package of proposals in 2015.
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Both Frans Timmermans and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had set out in statements to the European Parliament on the Work Programme for 2015 their priority of growth and jobs for Europe.
In a tweet, current Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella said that the circular economy was “always safe in the hands and remains priority of this EU Commission”.
#circulareconomy always safe in the hands and remains priority of this @EU_Commission @TimmermansEU #environment #TeamJunckerEU
— Karmenu Vella (@KarmenuVella) December 16, 2014
