Stavros Dimas

Stavros Dimas (Σταύρος Δήμας) (born 30 April 1941) is a Greek politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for the Environment. Stavros Dimas, Greek politician and European Commissioner for the Environment. ... Stavros Dimas, Greek politician and European Commissioner for the Environment. ... April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years), with 245 days remaining, as the last day in April. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ...

Early career

Born in Athens, Dimas studied law and economics at the University of Athens and went on to gain a master's degree from New York University. In 1969 he began working as a lawyer for a firm on Wall Street, moving to the World Bank the following year. In 1975 he returned to Greece to take up the post of deputy governor of the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank. Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína (IPA: )) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world, named after goddess Athena. ... The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greek: Εθνικόν και Καποδιστριακόν Πανεπιστήμιον Αθηνών), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in the region of the eastern Mediterranean and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. ... A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate or graduate course of one to three years in duration. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ... For other uses, see Wall Street (disambiguation). ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means...

From 1977 he was active in Greek politics as a member of the conservative New Democracy party. He was elected to the Greek parliament ten consecutive times from that year. From the outset he was involved in Greece's accession negotiations with the European Union. He went on to hold a variety of ministerial and other political positions: Party logo New Democracy or ND (Greek: Νέα Δημοκρατία, Nea Dhimokratia), founded in 1974, is the main center-right liberal political party in Greece. ... Politics of Greece takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. ...

• Deputy Minister of Economic Coordination (1977–1980)
• Minister of Trade (1980–1981)
• Parliamentary spokesperson for the New Democracy party (1985–1989)
• Minister of Agriculture (1989–1990)
• Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology (1990–1991)
• Secretary-General of New Democracy (1995–2000)
• Senior Member of the Political Analysis Steering Committee of New Democracy (2000–2003)
• Head of the New Democracy delegation to the Council of Europe (2000–2004)

The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de lEurope, German: Europarat) is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ...

European Commission

Dimas served briefly in the Prodi Commission. He was appointed European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs in March 2004, taking over the role from the previous Greek Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou. A major focus of his work during this time involved making it more difficult for states to opt out of the Working Time Directive. The Greek government nominated Dimas for the incoming Barroso Commission which took office on 22 November 2004. The Prodi Commission was the European Commission from 2000 to 2004. ... The European Working Time Directive is a collection of regulations concerning hours of work, designed to protect the health and safety of workers. ... The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 31 October 2009. ...

In a speech to a committee of the European Parliament Dimas announced four main priorities for his term in office: climate change, biodiversity, public health and sustainability. He emphasised the importance of the Kyoto Protocol, the Natura 2000 project, the REACH directive, and the need to better enforce existing EU environmental legislation.¹ The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years Climate change refers to the variation in the Earths global climate or regional climates over time. ... Rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. ... Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. ... Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. ... Kyoto Protocol Opened for signature December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan Entered into force February 16, 2005. ... NATURA 2000 is a project by the European Union and each of its member states to protect the environment. ... Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) is a proposal from the European Commission to modify the legislation on chemical safety in the European Union. ...

Selection hearing

Concerns were raised in advance by MEPs and many NGOs that by appointing a former Wall Street lawyer and industry minister to the environment post the EU had signalled a decreased commitment to environmental issues in favour of promoting economic competitiveness. However, after some months time, the environment unions quickly endorsed his programme and publicly congratulated him for being able to support the positions of the environmental organizations with great success within the Commission. Dimas' role was vital especially since the President, Mr Barroso, was ready to disregard the effects to the environment due to the need to improve economic development. A Member of the European Parliament (English abbreviation MEP) is a member of the European Unions directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. ... A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is not part of a government and was not founded by states. ...

Questioned by the European Parliament, Dimas took the view that preserving the environment and promoting competitiveness went hand in hand, and that environmental policy could provide a stimulus for technological innovation. Among other statements, he said that GM residues in seeds should be the lowest technically feasible. A genetically modified food is a food product derived in whole or part from a genetically modified organism (GMO) such as a crop plant, animal or microbe such as yeast. ...

Following his hearing Dimas received a sceptical response from most MEPs. Many believed him to have insufficient experience to fulfil the role. Karl-Heinz Florenz, chair of the Environment Committee and a member of the conservative EPP-ED, said that European environment policy needed, "more than just declarations of intention.... If Commission President-designate Barroso puts the Lisbon Strategy on top of the agenda, this must not mean that the primacy of economic over environment policy gets cemented." However, he stressed the need to give Dimas time to 'grow into' his role. The Socialists gave him a qualified approval but criticised his plans as too vague. The Greens and the left-wing GUE/NGL opposed his appointment outright, with the Greens naming him as one of the three "incompetent" Commissioners-designate who prompted them to vote against the Commission as a whole. Representatives of industry and the business community welcomed his appointment to the environment post. Karl-Heinz Florenz (born October 22, 1947 in Neukirchen-Vluyn) is a German Member of the European Parliament. ... EPP-ED logo The European Peoples Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats is a group in the European Parliament. ... This article needs to be updated. ... The Lisbon Strategy, also known as the Lisbon Agenda or Lisbon Process, is an action and development plan for the European Union. ... The Party of European Socialists (PES) (French: Parti socialiste européen (PSE); German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Europas (SPE); Spanish: Partido socialista europeo (PSE); Italian: Partito socialista europeo (PSE)) is a European political party whose members are 30 social democratic, socialist and labour parties of the European Union member states as well... European Greens is the name of the European Green Party, a political party at European level. ... GUE-NGL logo The European United Left–Nordic Green Left is a socialist and communist political grouping within the European Parliament. ...

In a dramatic change of stance, the Greens endorsed the programme plan by Commissioner Dimas and have argued that their cooperation in environmental issues is harmonic.

Stance on climate change

Dimas led the EU in its tough line on climate change during the first weeks of the new Commission. At UN talks on climate change in Buenos Aires in December 2004 he attempted to negotiate a new system of mandatory emissions reductions to follow the expiration of the initial Kyoto targets in 2012. This approach met with fierce opposition from the USA, representatives of which refused to even discuss the matter. The Italian environment minister Altero Matteoli broke EU ranks on the issue, proposing voluntary targets after 2012, and saying that it was, "unthinkable to go ahead without the US, China and India." United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Buenos Aires (English: Fair Winds, originally Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires, City of the Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds) is the capital of Argentina and its largest city and port, as well as... Altero Matteoli is the Italian Environment Minister as of October 2005. ...

Dimas oversaw the introduction of the EU's emissions trading scheme, due to take effect on 1 January 2005, despite emissions reduction plans from Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic and Greece not having been approved on time. He also sought to include companies operating aircraft under the emissions trading regime. Emissions trading is an administrative approach used to reduce the cost of pollution control by providing economic incentives for achieving emissions reductions. ...

References

1. Speech to the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs (full text (PDF)), 29 September 2004

External link

• Official website

Margot Wallström Margot Wallström (born September 28, 1954), is Swedish politician, Social Democrat, and currently First Vice President and Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy Commissioner of the European Commission. ... Vladimír Špidla Vladimír Špidla (born April 21, 1951 in Prague) is a Czech social democratic politician. ...

European Commission (2004–2009: Barroso Commission)

Joaquín Almunia | José Manuel Barroso | Jacques Barrot | Joe Borg | Stavros Dimas | Benita Ferrero-Waldner | Ján Figeľ | Franco Frattini | Mariann Fischer Boel | Dalia Grybauskaitė | Danuta Hübner | Siim Kallas | László Kovács | Neelie Kroes | Markos Kyprianou | Peter Mandelson | Charlie McCreevy | Louis Michel | Andris Piebalgs | Janez Potočnik | Viviane Reding | Olli Rehn | Vladimír Špidla | Günter Verheugen | Margot Wallström The European Commission (formally the Commission of the European Communities) is the executive body of the European Union. ... The Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 31 October 2009. ... Image File history File links European_flag. ... Joaquín Almunia Joaquín Almunia is the member of the European Commission responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs (since 26 April 2004). ... This article needs to be updated. ... External links Webpage of Jacques Barrot as European Commission member (in French) Categories: Stub ... Joe Borg Joseph Borg (born March 19, 1952) is a politician and diplomat in Malta, associated with the Nationalist Party which is currently governing that country. ... Benita Ferrero-Waldner Benita Ferrero-Waldner (born September 5, 1948) is the European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and an Austrian diplomat and politician. ... Ján Figeľ Ján Figeľ (born 20 January 1960) is a Slovak politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism. ... External links Profile: Franco Frattini, BBC Italian government: official Franco Frattini biography Categories: Stub | 1957 births | Italian politicians ... Mariann Fischer Boel Mariann Fischer Boel is a Danish politician of the party Venstre. ... Dalia GrybauskaitÄ— Dalia GrybauskaitÄ— (pronounced ) (born 1 March 1956 in Vilnius) is a Lithuanian politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Financial Programming and Budget. ... Danuta Hübner Danuta Hübner (born on 8 April 1948, in Nisko, Poland) was Polish Minister for European Affairs and is currently European Union Commissioner for Regional Policy. ... Categories: Stub | 1948 births | European Commissioners ... László Kovács László Kovács (pronounced ) (born 3 July 1939) is a Hungarian politician and diplomat, currently serving as European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union. ... Neelie Kroes Neelie Kroes (born 19 July 1941 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Competition. ... Markos Kyprianou Markos Kyprianou {pronounced ) (born 22 January 1960 in Limassol) is a Cypriot politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection. ... The Rt Hon. ... Charlie McCreevy Charles (Charlie) McCreevy, (born September 1949) is a senior Irish politician. ... Louis Michel Louis Michel (born September 2, 1947) was until July 2004 the Belgian foreign minister. ... Andris Piebalgs Andris Piebalgs (born 17 September Latvian politician and diplomat, currently serving as European Commissioner for Energy. ... Janez Potočnik Janez Potočnik (pronounced ) (born 22 March 1958) is a Slovenian politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Science and Research. ... EU Commissioner of DG InfoSoc born in Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg on April, 27th 1951 married, 3 children PhD. in Human Sciences from the Sorbonne University in Paris 1978-1999 Reporter at the Luxemburger Wort, the leading newspaper in Luxembourg. ... Olli Rehn Olli Rehn (born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Enlargement. ... Vladimír Å pidla Vladimír Å pidla (born April 21, 1951 in Prague) is a Czech social democratic politician. ... Günter Verheugen (born 28 April 1944 in Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German politician, currently serving as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry. ... Margot Wallström Margot Wallström (born September 28, 1954), is Swedish politician, Social Democrat, and currently First Vice President and Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy Commissioner of the European Commission. ...