ACR+

The COVID-19 crisis has shown to the public eye the urgent need to rethink and reshape our way of consuming and producing to protect the environment and limit the frequency of diseases outbreaks. The recent results of the latest French elections in municipalities show that concerns about climate change and environmental protection are far from a fashion trend, but a permanent and growing concern in the population of Europe. In line with this movement, the path took by the EU to get greener and more circular has become clearer and claimed by the European institutions.

In this context, Croatia handed over the rotating head of the Council of the EU to Germany on 1 July 2020. If the COVID-19 crisis will mark the German presidency, the priorities announced for the next six months remain in line with the goals set in the EU Green Deal for an innovative, fair, and sustainable Europe. This vision is shared by the following presidencies which will be Portugal and Slovenia.

Of course, the European Commission has also its part to play in giving a green turn to the EU recovery. As we further develop in this issue, in the past months, the Commission delivered the Farm to Fork Strategy, revised the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 to fit the new situation, and presented its Recovery Plan. Efforts and commitments must come from all actors of the value chain. By ACR+ multistakeholder spirit, we gave the floor to the EPR Club member EuRIC and ACR+ member Citeo to complete our articles on the Recovery Plan and the opening of public consultation for a revision of the rules on reducing packaging waste, respectively.

In this issue, we also tell you more about what we consider to be one of the “next big things” on the EU’s agenda: textiles.