Working Party on Energy and the Environment

Interdepartmental Working Group on Environment and Energy

Working Party on Environment Statistics

Working Party on Agriculture and Energy

Joint Working Group on Environment and Economics

Ad Hoc Working Group on the Human Environment

On the environment, the EU should invite India to meet annually in the Joint Working Group on Environment and to develop high level visits.

The new High–Level Group on Energy, Environment and Competitiveness will play an important role in identifying ways to promote the competitiveness of all sectors of affected industry.

The Joint Working Group ( Transport /Environment): In June 1998, the Cardiff European Council invited the Transport, Energy and Agriculture Councils to develop strategies to promote environmental integration and sustainable development within their respective policy areas.

Welcomes, in particular, the HLWG’s recommendation that the EU and the US address the environment and labour aspects of trade and sustainable development; considers that the experience of previous EU trade agreements and the long-lasting EU-US commitments should be taken into account in order to strengthen the development and enforcement of labour and environmental laws and policies and promote the core standards and benchmarks laid down by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as decent jobs and sustainable development; encourages the harmonisation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards; recognises that ach ...[+++]ieving common standards is likely to present both technical and political challenges, and emphasises that the common goal should be to ensure that there is no diminution of environmental ambitions;