Brussels, 6 March 2024
Dear Member of the European Parliament,
Next Monday 11 March the ENVI committee will be voting on “Ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe”, procedure file 2022/ 0347 (COD). This follows a provisional agreement reached on 20 February by Parliament and Council in trilogue on updating EU’s clean air standards (revised Ambient Air Quality Directive). Faced with a public health emergency from air pollution, this deal brings the EU one step closer to finally tackling it.
We, the undersigned organisations, representing the European health sector, including medical doctors, healthcare professionals, patient organisations and health insurance call on you to swiftly adopt this deal in the ENVI committee, as a sign of your commitment to cleaning up the air that hundreds of millions of people across Europe breathe.
This trilogue deal is a much-awaited major step forward towards clean air in Europe: in particular, it includes updates on maximum levels for the major air pollutants, strengthened monitoring requirements, better information to people including vulnerable groups.
Air pollution weighs heavily on the health of people in the EU and the economy; 97% of the urban population breathes air which is considered unhealthy, resulting in hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of billions of euros in health costs each year. Air pollution affects everyone and those most vulnerable disproportionally, such as those already ill, children, elderly, pregnant women, and those facing health inequalities.
We urge you to adopt the provisional agreement reached in trilogue to swiftly lessen people’s suffering, prevent disease and achieve economic savings.
Yours sincerely,
- Anne Stauffer – Deputy Director, Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL)
- Dr Barbara Hoffmann – Chair Advocacy Council, European Respiratory Society (ERS)
- Dr Christiaan Keijzer – President, Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME)
- Susanna Palkonen – Director, European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients’ Associations (EFA)
- Dr Milka Sokolović – Director General, European Public Health Alliance (EPHA)
- Xavier Brenez – CEO, Mutualités Libres/Onafhankelijke Ziekenfondsen
- Dr Hanna Boogaard – Co-chair, International Society for Environmental Epidemiology Europe (ISEE)
