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'EU's environmental policy must be part of defence strategy,' Commissioner Roswall says
The European Environment Commissioner told Euronews that Brussels must "connect the dots" and understand that environmental, economic and security interests go hand-in-hand.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/06/09/eus-environmental-policy-must-be-part-of-defence-strategy-commissioner-roswall-says
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The European Environment Commissioner told Euronews that Brussels must "connect the dots" and understand that environmental, economic and security interests go hand-in-hand.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/06/09/eus-environmental-policy-must-be-part-of-defence-strategy-commissioner-roswall-says
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:07Hello and welcome to the Europe Conversation. I'm Stefan Grobe.
00:11Today's guest combines a foundational career in criminal and family law
00:16with extensive experience in Swedish and EU politics.
00:20She served as a member of Parliament and then Minister for EU Affairs and Nordic Cooperation
00:26before joining the European Commission in 2024.
00:31Welcome, EU Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessica Roswall.
00:38It's good to have you here, ma'am.
00:40Thank you very much for taking me.
00:41So that's a long title. I want to start with something particular, hazardous chemicals.
00:48Because more than 80% of European citizens are actively concerned about harmful chemicals in everyday life.
00:56products, you know the numbers. They are demanding a clean environment.
01:01Is the Commission hearing this call and taking it seriously?
01:05Absolutely we are. I am also concerned.
01:08I am one of these citizens who do care about how the chemicals that are hazardous is affecting me and
01:14the environment.
01:16Myself, during the Danish presidency, I took a PFAS test.
01:19So I also have, like most people, PFAS in my body. I am a mother and my grandmother.
01:24PFAS we should explain are the forever chemicals.
01:27It's the forever chemicals, exactly.
01:28Exactly. So, of course, I am concerned and that is why we are taking action.
01:33At the moment, we are assessing together with the European Chemical Agency.
01:39They are doing the assessment and then we will take it further on how we can both tap the fluid
01:47to chemicals.
01:48I mean, how can we see that we can seek a ban for PFAS in consumer products, but also the
01:55other part, which is also very important, how we can see that we can do the cleanup more efficiently and
02:01more cost efficiently.
02:02So, absolutely, we are trying to stop the tap, if you may say so.
02:07You recently said you want to impose stricter restrictions, yet Osa von der Leyen has repeatedly refused to visit communities
02:17affected by forever chemicals.
02:20Do I detect the problem of messaging here?
02:23No. I mean, we are addressing the forever chemicals, but also other hazardous chemicals, or it can be pollution, whatever.
02:31I mean, we all deserve and we want to have clean water, so we are addressing both chemicals, but also
02:37micropollutants and other things.
02:39This is a core issue for me and for European citizens.
02:42Myself, I have done a lot of study visits around Europe and different hotspots, also meeting people who have chemicals
02:51in their body or born polluted.
02:53Four years ago, the Commission sought to push what was hailed at the time as the largest ever ban on
03:01toxic chemicals, but little has moved since then.
03:04Then, why is starting this process of regulating chemicals so difficult?
03:09I mean, I should not say start, because of course, we have a regulation since 20 years.
03:14We call it the REACH regulation.
03:16I mean, it's a very, it's a core regulation in Europe, and it's also very popular.
03:21It's been exported, if you may say, around the world, which has helped us.
03:24But with that said, we also know that there's some that needs to be modernized and it needs to be
03:29updated.
03:30Here, the Forever Chemicals is one, which we have taken into trying to address.
03:36It's not easy.
03:37It takes time.
03:38It's not like one chemical.
03:39It's thousands of chemicals.
03:41So it takes time to assess and also to discuss on where, because unfortunately we cannot just say skip the
03:48Forever Chemicals,
03:49because we need them also in different health products, in different digital solutions.
03:57So the other core issue for me here is to say, okay, if we don't have substitution on this, whatever
04:03project it is, that is necessary for our daily life,
04:06then we need to safeguard that the substances doesn't go out in the nature or in people's bodies.
04:13I think we are addressing it as fast as possible, but it is a complex question.
04:18Moving on to another of your competences, and that is water.
04:23Europe's water resources are under growing pressures from droughts and extreme weather.
04:29We see that every year.
04:31Is the continent prepared for a future of water scarcity?
04:36We can call it water bankruptcy, actually, in the world.
04:40Bankruptcy, you see?
04:41Yeah, I would say that that is the situation that we need to address.
04:45I am the first commissioner with water in my title, even though it's long, as you say.
04:49But that is because we see that we need to take water as a political priority.
04:55We cannot take water for granted.
04:57That comes to all of Europe.
04:59Then, of course, we have different situations in Spain compared to Finland.
05:03But the fact is that we all have sometimes in Europe too little water, too much water.
05:09And we need to address that.
05:11And that is the situation.
05:13And, yes, we are taking a lot of action.
05:15We put forward the water resilience strategy last year with a lot of actions.
05:19But now it's time to act.
05:21Yeah, you mentioned too much water.
05:22However, we can say that we have a problem of flooding here that comes regularly.
05:28The commission itself has noted that 90% of disasters are related to water in the EU and no EU
05:35country is spared.
05:36Last week, Belgium hosted a major EU disaster response exercise.
05:44How prepared are we to deal with this?
05:46Better than we used to be, but we need to continue.
05:51And I think that it is.
05:52And it's linked.
05:53I mean, sometimes it is floods, but sometimes it's droughts.
05:56Sometimes we also have wildfires.
05:58All these are connected in that way that we know they will come more often and be more severe.
06:04So we need to be more prepared.
06:06We also need to prevent these floods to happen.
06:09Of course, it's linked to climate change.
06:11It's linked to that we need to do more investments in nature.
06:15We need to have more nature-based solutions that functions like a sponge before floods will appear.
06:21So, I mean, I would say that our member states are more prepared because we have had some really serious
06:27floods the last years.
06:29The thing that is maybe new is that this is not something that's happened just every 20 years, 100 years
06:36or something.
06:37It's happening all over again.
06:39And that's why we need to address this.
06:41And it costs a lot of money for the European Union and the member states.
06:44And if we don't act and do this prevention measures, then it will cost more.
06:50In the past, farmers have staged big protests here in Brussels against strict environmental rules,
06:58rules introduced by the European Union, including pesticide limits and nitrogen emission targets,
07:05arguing that these threaten their livelihoods.
07:08Now, did Brussels underestimate the impact of its green policies on rural communities?
07:17I mean, for me, the Green Deal is a growth strategy, inclusive growth strategy.
07:24And, of course, farming is a part of that.
07:28And that is not only because it is, according to me, the competitive advantage that Europe has,
07:34but also because it's about future proving our industries and our farming agriculture sector.
07:40And in this, we all see that the rich back to water and the scarcity back to that water scarcity
07:49affects the possibility to have production of food production, of course.
07:54So that is why we need to take we cannot choose either environmental legislation or competitiveness, whatever that is, or
08:03growth.
08:03We need to do both. And that's a little bit my frustration that we sometimes are in a discussion that
08:08you have to choose.
08:09And that is not that is not possible.
08:11So we cannot do one without the other.
08:13Exactly. And that is why I think for me, the farmers are a really important part of this.
08:19And they want to be the part of the solution because, of course, they see that water scarcity, whether it
08:23could be floods also, actually, then we will have a problem.
08:27And this is not only for a farmer, farmer, industry, agriculture. It is also about Europe's security.
08:33If everything is linked and this is what we need to do. But, of course, we need to explain why
08:37and we need to have the tools.
08:39What about biodiversity? Can Europe realistically restore this while simultaneously expanding housing, industry and renewable energy projects?
08:51Again, it's about the links. We need to understand that the risk of not investing in nature will come with
08:58an economic risk, but also with the security risk.
09:00And that's what we have to understand. And that's why I think this is an investment in our future, which
09:06we we don't have a choice to do.
09:07We need to do it. And then, of course, we need to do it efficiently and we need to do
09:12it gradually so everybody can follow.
09:17Later this year, the Circular Economy Act is expected to be adopted. What is its role in all of this?
09:26A lot of roles. It has a lot of legs. But it is, if I may, I'll start with that
09:32the latest conflict that we have that is affecting us is the crisis in the Middle East and the war
09:39in Iran.
09:39That, again, shows us that dependency comes with a cost. And that is not only linked to energy, of course,
09:47that is what we also discuss a lot, rightly so, but also because we are dependent on fossils when it
09:52comes to other products in our society.
09:54But also we are dependent on critical raw materials, for example. So we, and that is not only Europe that
10:02needs these critical raw materials, it's also everyone else in the world.
10:06And the fight for these materials are getting tougher. So we need to be more self-sufficient.
10:13And that, where is the circularity, plays a crucial role to use the materials that we have within the Europe,
10:19in Europe, in a more efficient way.
10:22We are a goldmine, actually, but we don't use it.
10:25Right. So critics have argued that the text is focused too heavily on recycling and does not put enough emphasis
10:32on overproduction and overconsumption, which is also a threat to competitiveness.
10:39Do these critics have a point?
10:42A lot of people, when we think about circularity, we tend to go to recycling, which is one part, one
10:47important part, but we also need to do the reuse and how we consume.
10:51I think that is the whole part of circularity. I think that circularity is actually a kind of new revolution
10:57that we are into.
10:58We are now in a linear model, which we have been for a long time.
11:01I respect it takes some time to turn that to a circular, but this is what we are into now.
11:07So I think that we cannot see circularity as only recycling or reuse, or it has to be the whole
11:13circle.
11:14I would say that we all need to have a change of mindset, because the climate change demands that, because
11:21the resources that we use demands that,
11:23and the current geopolitical situation demands that.
11:26We are dependent on these materials, a lot of them, and we need to get rid of dependency, whatever that
11:33is.
11:34So I think that is one thing.
11:35But then, of course, it's easier said than done, because we know that the virgin materials today is cheaper than
11:43secondary materials.
11:44There is a lot of hinders in the single market that we need to address.
11:48So I think that it's not only me as a consumer to have this change of mindset.
11:54Me as a policymaker, businesses, policymakers, whatever, we all need to have this change of mindset.
12:00Should consumers expect to pay more if Europe fully embraces the circular economy model?
12:08That is what we see today.
12:09As I said, the secondary materials is today more expensive, and that is why we need to get the answers
12:16on how to make the business case for secondary materials.
12:20And that is what we will try to address in the Circular Economy Act, because people or industries, business to
12:27business, are neither interested today to do that extra payment.
12:31Of course, we have a lot of extra costs for energy and so forth, so we need to find that
12:35business case.
12:36And I think it's possible, because virgin materials is also scarce and weaponized sometimes.
12:42So, of course, there should be a business case in this.
12:45You mentioned earlier climate change and the impact on the environment is increasingly seen as a security issue in the
12:54political discourse.
12:57Should environmental policy now be considered as part of Europe's defense strategy?
13:04Yes, I think so.
13:06I can explain.
13:07Please do.
13:09Because I see that, because there is a lot of examples, back to water, which is not only a resource
13:16like anyone else.
13:17We need water for our daily life.
13:19We need it for energy production.
13:20We need it for food production.
13:22And when water gets scarce, we are in trouble, and that eventually is also a security threat to us, not
13:29only food production, but also on a global perspective.
13:31We know that water is also driving conflicts and so forth.
13:34So that is one part of the defense angle and security angle.
13:38We also see nature as a natural border.
13:42We see it in Poland and Finland how you can turn wetlands into border controls, make it more difficult.
13:51So, I mean, this is for an invasion to pass.
13:54So there is two signs of that.
13:56But I would argue the main thing is that biodiversity loss, crop loss, floods and droughts, is a security threat.
14:06And that's not only, again, not only me who's saying that.
14:09I very often now recently refer to the UK MI6 report that came out earlier this year saying that natural
14:17degration is the main threat for UK's national security, which of course affects, is the same for a lot of
14:25other countries.
14:54Yeah.
14:55Are putting hazardous chemicals as a top priority.
15:00That is the answer to the question.
15:02We want clean water.
15:04We want clean air.
15:06We need healthy soils.
15:08And that is one reason I think we need.
15:11And I'm not sure that it always has to cost more money.
15:14It's doing things more efficiently, using new techniques, using AI, using digitalization.
15:20I think that is one part.
15:21The other part is that we today, again, see the dependencies cost.
15:26And that is something that me as a consumer at the end of the day is paying the price for.
15:31So we need to treat our environment.
15:34We need to get in a more sustainable way because that is the future proof.
15:39So, of course, we can discuss and we can put plaster of things at the moment, but that will only
15:43postpone the cost.
15:46The cost of doing nothing to prevent from flooding, to prevent from droughts, or wildfires, that is costly.
15:54And it will, at the end of the day, cost me as a consumer money.
15:57Okay, here's a tricky one.
15:59Which environmental target is Europe likely to miss?
16:08We are doing better when it comes to air pollution, for example, unless people are premature death in that, which
16:15is a good thing.
16:16But still, we are not reaching the targets.
16:18Water quality.
16:19We have a target in the Water Framework Directive into 2027.
16:24Probably we are not going to reach that.
16:27Healthy soils, 80% of our soils are not in a good shape.
16:31So, that is the brutal truth, which means that it's even more confirming what I say.
16:40We need to start investing in nature and seeing this as an economic asset.
16:46And a risk, the risk is to do nothing.
16:49That is what we are facing.
16:51If you meet your non-European colleagues, do you have the impression that everybody is on the same wavelength here?
17:00Not everyone, of course, because we are a lot of states around the world.
17:05But I feel, and of course, we know that multilateralism and cooperation are getting harder and harder now, due to
17:13a lot of reasons.
17:14But I feel that there is this ask for Europe to stand firm and stand in the front line, because
17:22I also meet a lot of states around the world that is heavily affected from climate change or nature or
17:28plastic pollution.
17:29And there is a lot of cooperation around that.
17:33So, I feel that there is also a lot of willingness to move forward in the multilateralism.
17:39And how problematic is it for you that the United States have basically left the global climate endeavors?
17:49So, U.S. is and will always be important partners for Europe and our countries.
17:55So, when I talk about, I've been to G7, G20, discussing desertification on the desertification cup coming up, or plastic
18:04pollution, of course, we have differences.
18:07But also, seeing the benefit of cooperation is also there.
18:13So, I'm trying to move forward, because the water issue, the broken water cycle, that is not one member state.
18:21That is something that we need to work together on.
18:24So, I'm trying to move forward on things that we can cooperate.
18:28Critical raw materials, for example.
18:30We just recently did an agreement with the U.S. on that.
18:35So, that's a little bit how I try to work.
18:37But with that said, of course, the multilateralism, the global cooperation, is difficult today.
18:43If your term ended tomorrow, what would be your biggest failure?
18:50Oh, I usually get the question, what do you want to achieve?
18:56Well, if we have not moved the needle, actually reset the clock in one way, when it comes to circularity,
19:04because the dependency, as we see today, is really, it is here for us.
19:10So, we need to do something more on circularity, and it's linked to environment and water, actually.
19:14So, I hope that we can.
19:16So, I did not answer your question then.
19:17What is my, I don't want to, I mean, I hope that this will be a successful mandate, and that
19:22we take, see, connect the dots, that it cannot be seen as environmental in one silo.
19:29This has to be horizontal.
19:30Okay, now I have to ask you, what do you consider your biggest achievement?
19:34Oh, that, then it will be that if I can help to bring different sectors on board on the investment
19:42part, online nature, that would be my biggest achievement.
19:45All right, Jessica Roswell, thank you very much, EU Commissioner for the Environment and many other things.
19:52Thanks for a very interesting conversation.
19:54Thank you very much for having me.
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