European Environmental Bureau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EEB is a federation of over 145 environmental citizens’ organisations based in all EU Member States, potential new member states and a few neighbouring countries. These organisations range from local and national, to European and international. EEB’s aim is to protect and improve Europe’s environment and to enable Europe’s citizens to play their part in achieving that goal. A key element of this process is promoting the EU’s ‘Green Leadership’.

The EEB office was set up in Brussels in 1974 to provide a focal point for its members to monitor and respond to the EU’s emerging environmental policy. EEB has an information service, runs working groups of EEB members, produces position papers on topics that are, or should be, on the EU agenda, and represents its members in discussions with the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council. It closely coordinates EU-oriented activities with members at national level, and also closely follows the EU enlargement process and some pan-European issues such as follow-up to the Aarhus Convention.

EEB has consultative status at and relations with:

• the Council of Europe • the Commission of the European Union, the European Parliament • the Economic and Social Committee of the European Union • the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) • the United Nation Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
Membership 143 member organizations in 31 countries; Non-governmental organisations, dealing with environmental issues and nature protection
Activities [1]

European Environmental Bureau has day-to-day working relationships with European Union institutions including the European Commission, the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, and has routine contacts with the European Environmental Agency and other European Union institutions and bodies, Member States’ Permanent Representatives and national ministries. It also have consultative status at the Council of Europe and the United Nations and play an important role in the environmental Non Governmental Organisations community in promoting implementation of the Aarhus Convention both within and outside the European Union.

Environmental organisations in Candidate Countries and, increasingly, in the Western Balkans, continue to regard the European Environmental Bureau as their main partner with an European focus. Our experience, relationships and position are of great value to these states in determining their own role in processes related to European Union enlargement and the environment. Owing to the EEB’s proactive involvement, our membership numbers from New Member States and those aspiring to join the European Union are already large and are growing.

In November 2004, the European Environmental Bureau, working with the Ban Mercury Working Group, launched the ‘Zero Mercury’ campaign, whose ultimate goal is to achieve zero emissions, demand and supply of mercury, from all sources we can control, to reduce global environmental mercury levels to a minimum. An international Zero Mercury Working Group was created to follow up developments at European and global level.