The CoR plenary session adopted on 1 July the opinion of Daiva Matonienė, deputy mayor of Šiauliai City, Lithuania, on the future of LIFE, the main EU financial instrument for environment. The rapporteur suggests the future programme keeps a similar structure to the current one and underscores that preserving biodiversity should remain high in the EU environmental agenda with its objectives being integrated into other EU policy areas. The rapporteur calls for more flexibility in using EU resources taking into account local conditions as well as for the simplification of administrative procedures. At the same time the opinion underscores the crucial importance of awareness raising activities, especially from an educational point of view and of innovative techniques for the management of environmental policy.