Aarhus Convention and the Citizen NGOs in new Member States Conference

In this opening speech of the Conference "The Aarhus Convention and the Citizen NGOs in new Member States", Margot Wallström highlights the particular importance of the Aarhus Convention in the context of the enlargement of the European Union and the European Parliament elections: “ …the Convention is not ‘only’ an environmental agreement. It is also about governmental accountability, transparency and responsiveness, and thus goes to the very heart of the relationship between people and governments.” The Environment Commissioner confirms the commitment to promoting environmental democracy through putting forward the Aarhus process in the EU. The Conference was held 5-6 July 2004 in Brussels.