European Election 2019: what next for EU Circular Economy?

After the recent European elections the EU circular economy and plastics agenda has clearly grown in importance.

EU Circular Economy Agenda

In new president-elect Ursula von der Leyen's Agenda, EU circular economy is of crucial importance. Mrs. von der Leyen proposes an action plan based on resource-intense and high-impact sectors such as textiles and construction. In addition, she wants to tackle single-use plastics issue, revise the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and the Packaging Directive.

However, a lot of the measures announced by the Commission will need to be either implemented or developed in more detail over the course of the next Commission and European Parliament. The next five years will therefore be essential to accelerate progress on the circular economy and plastics agenda.

New Parliamentary Composition

The European Parliament has substantially changed, with the 64% of new members. The former Grand Coalition no longer has a majority. On the other hand, the Greens and ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) have gained, respectively, 18 and 39 seats. Voter participation increased throughout Europe by about the 9% compared with 2014. This shows an increasing awareness of the role the European Union can play on key issues, especially the ones that made it to the top of the agenda during the campaign, such as climate protection.