The college of Commissioners agreed to scrap the circular economy package along with 73 other pending legislative proposals on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the Commission’s environment department said.

NGO Friends of the Earth said Wednesday’s decision gave “a worrying indication” that the Commission's commitment to “better regulation” was in reality about less regulation.

The Commission spokeswoman said the decision was in line with what the Commission had announced in December for its 2015 work programme.

The Commission’s decision to scrap the circular economy package conflicts with the views of most member states and MEPs. But neither the Council nor the European Parliament gave the Commission a formal instruction to keep the proposals on the table.

Ministers approved the Commission’s work programme on 10 February, while political squabbling meant MEPs failed to adopt a formal position on the matter.

The Commission plans replace the circular economy package with a new proposal that will cover product design, reuse and raw materials, rather than focusing so strongly on waste management.

The full list of withdrawn proposals will be published in the EU Official Journal.

Source: ENDS Europe