The Commissioner for the Environment and Nuclear Safety, Mrs Ritt Bjerregaard, is inviting various organisations to participate in an exchange of views on the environmental challenges of the Intergovernmental Conference on Monday 27 January 1997. Invited organisations come from a range of economic sectors, non governmental organisations, regional and local authorities and from academic bodies. This public hearing will be held at the Centre Albert Borschette, 36 rue Froissart, Brussels. This will look at the situation after the Dublin Summit at a time when a new round of discussions is about to begin. It will take into account the presentation of the draft revision of the Treaty by the Irish Presidency and define the challenges for European policy from the point of view of the environment and sustainable development. During the course of the day there will be a possibility to consider the four major questions to which the Commission gave particular attention in its Opinion on the Conference. (1) The effects of the future enlargement on the Union; (2) Decision making procedures and environmental policy; (3) Sustainable development and integration of the environment into other policies; (4) Democracy and environmental rights for citizens. Requests for registration should be sent before 10 January 1997 to the European Commission, DG XI.1, fax: +32.2.2990895. Space is limited to 200 places and applications will be accepted up to this limit. HEARING ON THE IGC AND THE ENVIRONMENT Brussels, 27 January 1997 PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME Chairman: Marius Enthoven, Director General for Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection 09:30 Opening Speech by Ritt Bjerregaard, Commissioner for Environment and Nuclear Safety 10:00 Presentations The effects of future enlargement on the Union Jernej Stritih (Executive Director, The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest) Andreas Kraemer (ECOLOGIC, Center for International and European Environmental Research, Berlin) 10:30 Interventions from floor 11:30 Decision-making procedures and environmental policy Ken Collins (Chairman of the Environment Committee, European Parliament) Mr/Mrs ......... (to be confirmed) 12:00 Interventions from floor 13:00 Lunch 14:30 Sustainable development and integration of the environment into other policies Nigel Haigh (Institute for European Environmental Policy, London) Ralph Hallo (Stichting Natuur en Milieu, Utrecht, member of the Board of the European Environment Bureau) 15:00 Interventions from floor 16:00 Democracy and environmental rights for citizens Siggaard Jensen (Research Professor, Copenhagen Business School) Annie Amirda (President, Les Amis de la Terre, France) 16:30 Interventions from floor 17:30 Closing remarks by Marcelino Oreja, Commissioner responsible in particular for the IGC and priority information actions (to be confirmed) ***
