The Greek government has named agreement with the European Parliament on a revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) among the basic objectives of its Council Presidency. During a mid-December meeting of the EU Environment Council in Brussels, Greece’s environment minister Ionnais Maniatis introduced the country's priorities in the field of Environment and Climate Change, according to a statement by the Presidency.
Mr Maniatis had first raised the prospect that that the Parliament and Council might reach agreement on the proposed Regulation before its first reading during Greece’s Council Presidency in the first half of 2014 if the EP’s timetable permitted at the October meeting of the Environment Council (EUWID 24/2013). The Environment Committee is provisionally slated to hold a vote on the legislation at the end of January 2014, with the full plenary scheduled to vote for the first time in April. The European Parliament elections run from 22 to 25 May 2014.
