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Commissioner Roswall's speech at the EU Environment Council meeting press point

17 mars 2026 Collecté le 18 mars 2026 Voir sur la Commission européenne

Source : Commission européenne — Communiqués de presse

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EU Environment Council meeting press point

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EU Environment Council meeting press point

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... HomePress corner EU Environment Council meeting press point

Available languages: English Speech Mar 17, 2026 Brussels 2 min read

Commissioner Roswall's speech at the EU Environment Council meeting press point

"Check against delivery"

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank the Cypriot Presidency and Alexis for very good results and discussions at the Environment Council.

As oil and gas supply is facing severe disruptions because of the tensions in the Middle East and we face increasing global competition for resources, strengthening Europe's resilience is more important than ever. The bioeconomy can make a big difference here.

Today the Council adopted conclusions on the EU bioeconomy strategy that we presented just a few months ago. This is in record time and a model of cooperation between environmental, economic and agricultural ministers. I really appreciate the Cypriot Presidency's support to put this top of the agenda and for the swift work on this.

We can replace imported fossil feedstock and build resilience based on renewable European resources in so many areas of our economy. I firmly believe that this is an important growth strategy that can boost our economic resilience and reduce dependencies. The bioeconomy sector holds strategic value and opportunities for innovation, sustainability and our competitiveness.

I am very pleased that Member States have agreed to put Europe firmly in the driving seat with this growth strategy. There is strong support for continued action, both at European and national level, to unlock the full potential of the EU bioeconomy by 2040, while contributing to the EU's climate neutrality target.

We also addressed how Europe needs to step up in a shifting geopolitical world. We must push through our ambition to strengthen our resilience and reduce our dependencies.

In this context we are launching today the call for evidence on the future revision of the Water Framework Directive. Water resilience and the clean transition are two sides of the same coin. We need to ensure clean water and enable clean mining, because we need critical raw materials to decarbonise and strengthen our resilience.

I want to hear from our stakeholders how we can best bring these objectives together in our rules. I want Europe to lead on clean mining, rather than outsourcing pollution to third countries.

Finally, we also discussed a different strand of our European circular agenda on how to turn housing more circular and resource efficient for the future under a New European Bauhaus recommendation for Member States. This is part of the Affordable Housing Package that the Commission presented before the end of the year.

We have to do more to use resources more efficiently and adapt our homes to extreme weather events like flooding or droughts. This is the new reality we all have to operate in to adapt to climate change and manage water better to become truly water resilient.

Thank you.

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