The prospect of Vella – a leading member of the Labour party – being put in charge of the European commission's environment portfolio, which has specific responsibility for birdlife and its habitats, has horrified green groups, campaigners and wildlife protection organisations.
"In Mahan, they tried to stop a project after it was already commissioned," an environment ministry official told me.
The original REACH proposal was drafted by the commission's environment directorate, which was strongly influenced by the likes of WWF.
Ivor Dickinson, for one, doubts whether the company has softened that much: "In a highly commission-based environment, you are encouraging the negotiator to act for himself, not the client".
The European commission's environment spokesman, Joe Hennon, described the prime minister's comments as "more than disappointing" and of showing a "clear misunderstanding" of the air pollution crisis facing the UK.
It also includes recent work in Mr. Paik's new medium, laser beams, including a specially commissioned multimedia environment in the rotunda that envelops the viewer in a spectacular wrap of light and moving images.
The commission's environment commissioner, Janez Potocnik, issued his long-awaited decision on Friday on the UK's request for an extension to meet the 2005 directive on limit values for PM10s – dangerous airborne particles that contribute to thousands of premature deaths.
UK and Poland lobbying Lobbying by Poland and the UK is thought to have stymied a directive regulating shale drills that the commission's environment directorate had planned to include in its 2030 climate and energy package of EU legislation, announced in January.
The National Council on Environment is made up of the Federal Ministry of Environment and State Commissions of Environment.
