European Environment Agency
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European Environment Agency
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 EEA and collaborating countries.
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| Administrative center |  Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| Official languages | see article section below | |||
| Membership | 32 countries | |||
| Leaders | ||||
| - | Director | Jacqueline McGlade | ||
| - | Chairman of Management Board | Karsten Sach | ||
| Establishment | ||||
| - | EEC regulation 1210/1990 | 1990 | ||
| - | Headquartered | 1994 | ||
| Website eea.europa.eu |
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The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union (EU). Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public. The EEA is governed by a Management Board composed of representatives of the governments of its 32 member states, a European Commission representative and two scientists appointed by the European Parliament, assisted by a committee of scientists.
It was established by the European Economic Community (EEC) Regulation 1210/1990 (amended by EEC Regulation 933/1999 and EC Regulation 401/2009) and became operational in 1994. It is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Professor Jacqueline McGlade is the current Executive Director of the agency. She will be in office until May 31, 2013. Professor Hans Bruyninckx has been appointed as the successor.
As an EU body, member states of the European Union are automatically members; however the Council Regulation establishing it provided that other states may become members of it by means of agreements concluded between them and the EU.
It was the first EU body to open its membership to the 13 candidate countries (pre-2004 enlargement).
The EEA has 32 member countries and seven cooperating countries. The European environment information and observation network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and the countries. The EEA is responsible for developing the network and coordinating its activities. To do so, the EEA works closely together with national focal points, typically national environment agencies or environment ministries. They are responsible for coordinating national networks involving many institutions (about 350 in all).
The 32 member countries include the 27 European Union Member States together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
The seven West Balkan countries are cooperating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as Kosovo under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244/99. These cooperation activities are integrated into Eionet and are supported by the European Union under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.
The EEA is an active member of the EPA Network.[1]
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European environment information and observation network (Eionet) [edit]
The European environment information and observation network (Eionet) is a partnership network of the EEA and its member and cooperating countries. The EEA is responsible for developing the network and coordinating its activities. To do this, the EEA works closely together with the National Focal Points (NFPs), typically national environment agencies or environment ministries in the member countries.
The NFPs are responsible for coordinating networks of the National Reference Centres (NRCs), bringing altogether around 1000 experts from over 350 national institutions and other bodies dealing with environmental information.
Apart from the NFPs and NRCs, Eionet currently covers six European Topic Centres (ETCs) in the areas of air and climate change, biological diversity, climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation, water, land use and spatial information and analysis and sustainable consumption and production.
Annual discharge process [edit]
On February 2012, the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control published a draft report [2] identifying potential areas of concern in the use of funds and influence for the 2010 budget. The EEA's Executive Director refused allegations of irregularities in a public hearing [3]
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted on the report on March 27, 2012[4] and commended the cooperation between the Agency and NGOs working in the environmental area. On 23 October 2012, the European Parliament voted and granted the discharge to the European Environment Agency for its 2010 budget.
Executive directors [edit]
| Name | Nationality | Term(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán |  Spain |
1994 – 2003 |
| Jacqueline McGlade |  United Kingdom |
2003 – 2013 |
| Hans Bruyninckx |  Belgium |
2013 – |
International cooperation [edit]
In addition to its 32 member and seven Western Balkan cooperating countries, the EEA also cooperates and fosters partnerships with its neighbours and other countries and regions, mostly in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy:[5]
- EaP states: Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgira
- UfM states: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia
- other ENPI states: Russia
- Central Asia states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Additionally the EEA cooperates with multiple international organizations and the corresponding agencies of the following countries:
- United States of America (Environmental Protection Agency)
- Canada (Environment Canada)
- PR China (State Environmental Protection Administration)
Official languages [edit]
The 32 official languages used by the EEA are: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Spanish, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Malti, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish and Turkish.
See also [edit]
- Agencies of the European Union
- EU environmental policy
- List of atmospheric dispersion models
- Confederation of European Environmental Engineering Societies
- Coordination of Information on the Environment
- European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)
References [edit]
- ^ European Network of the Heads of Environment Protection Agencies.
- ^ Draft Report on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Environment Agency for the financial year 2010
- ^ EU agencies rebuked over spending by Valentina Pop, March 2, 2012. From the EU Observer website.
- ^ Agenda for March 27, 2011 meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control.
- ^ International Coopperation Scroll down to "European Neighborhood Project".
External links [edit]
- European Environment Agency website
- European Topic Centre on Land Use and Spatial Information (ETC LUSI)
- European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change(ETC/ACC)
- Model Documentation System (MDS)
- The European Environment Agency's near real-time ozone map (ozoneweb)
- EnviroWindows
Coordinates: 55°40′52″N 12°35′12″E / 55.681208°N 12.586609°E
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