LRFrapport_20130521_ny

national system of environmental quality objectives, in which the Parliament stated that the
environmental quality objectives certainly should be ambitious and challenging but they must
not be formulated so that they become impossible to achieve.
3.5.2 LRF's proposal
Marine Environmental policy indeed must remain a political matter in Sweden. The current
Swedish system, in which governmental decisions are made within HELCOM BSAP and then
transferred down to the agencies without passing the parliamentarian level, is not the result of
a conscious policy choice of the present government, but rather a consequence of a previous
governments’ unique way of transposing the EU WFD and MSFD into Swedish legisation.
LRF is of the opinion that this unique way is highly questionable, an opinion recently
confirmed in the report to the parliamentarian Environmental Objectives’ Council. The
Parliament, the Government and the authorities therefore need to urgently review and adjust
the method to transpose and implement the EU WFD and MSFD and the HELCOM BSAP, to
ensure that Sweden not unilaterally expose themselves for politically undesirable and
unreasonable consequences for the economy, employment and food production, with highly
uncertain environmental benefits. Such changes would also be necessary for the general
improvement of the framework for marine and water policies in Sweden and to restore overall
confidence in environmental governance.
Furthermore, the government must ensure that there is made a preliminary socio-economic
impact assessment of the proposed ecological targets and reduction target before they are
decided within HELCOM.
The government should furthermore present a report to the parliament in time for the
HELCOM meeting in October 2013 for its consideration. It should be based on the latest
available knowledge and recognize the socio-economic consequences. The report should be
looked upon as the start of a revised and continued ambitious Baltic Sea policy in Sweden and
throughout the region. The goal should be fastest possible restoration of the Baltic Sea to the
lowest possible cost, without unjustified and disproportional costs for individual countries,
sectors, companies and persons within the frames provided by the EU Marine Strategy
Framework Directive and the Water Framework Directive, the co-ordination of HELCOM
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Remissversion, 21.05.2013