<
https://healthpolicy-watch.news/european-battle-for-air-quality-heats-up-as-eu-parliament-votes-to-toughen-rules/>
"An air of uncertainty loomed over the European Parliament in Strasbourg on
Wednesday as lawmakers prepared to vote on new air pollution rules that would
set the bar for the European Union’s ambitions to tackle the unsafe air that
98% of its citizens breathe.
The vote was seen by many as the latest test of the European Parliament’s
commitment to the Green Deal, the EU’s flagship package of policies to fight
climate change.
Echoes of the highly politicized vote on biodiversity restoration in July,
which passed by a razor-thin margin after an all-out push by right-wing parties
to shoot it down, hung over Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State
of the Union address before voting began.
“We are facing, with air pollution, a slow-motion pandemic,” Javi López, the
centre-left Spanish MEP in charge of negotiating the Parliament’s position,
said ahead of the vote. “The administration should fight against air pollution
like we were fighting against the pandemic.”
But the parliamentary vote, advertised as a down-to-the-wire affair, wasn’t
even close. The final tally – 363 votes in favour, 226 against and 46
abstentions – was a welcome relief for environmental groups, who had feared
that a campaign by the same right-wing coalition that joined forces to take
down the biodiversity law would succeed the second time around."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-child-poverty-leprosy-conservation-california/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
