The Czech presidency is set to warn the European Environment Council that lack of agreement on a soil framework directive is undermining the EU's position in international environmental discussions and its ability to protect its own environment.
The Environment Council on 25 June will only receive a "progress report" on the draft directive from the Presidency and not the revised version promised earlier this year.
The Presidency will warn that a "blocking minority" of member states - the UK, Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands is preventing the Council from reaching political agreement on soil.
"As soil degradation accelerates across the EU the negative effects on health and ecosystems is increasingly being felt," says a Presidency preparation note for what will be its last Environment Council. "To reverse this trend the Commission's strategy sets a common EU framework for action to preserve, protect and restore soil while leaving Member States with the flexibility to implement it in a way which fits local situations best."
The Council is likely to reach conclusions on invasive alien species, biodiversity and biowaste. The UK has publicly criticised the draft soil framework directive for undermining this country's functional risk-based system for contaminated land management. But there has also been behind the scenes opposition to the directive's plans to control soil sealing, which the government believes could threaten its greenfield house building ambitions.
