Newcomers struggle to hit standards

Date: 18/03/1999

By Simon Taylor

Meeting the Union's environmental standards poses one of the biggest obstacles to central and eastern European countries lining up to join the bloc.

European governments and environmental activists are convinced that the applicant countries will need long delays before they can hope to match EU countries on criteria including air and water quality and waste management.

Following a painstaking examination of the applicant countries' environmental legislation, a clear picture is now emerging of the problems facing the hopefuls.

Polish diplomats recently admitted that Warsaw would ask for long exemptions from EU water standards as it struggles to find the necessary funds to upgrade treatment plants. The other applicant countries, with their shared history of Soviet-era heavy industry, are expected to have similar problems.

EU governments have already identified improving environmental standards as a key priority in the preparations for enlargement and have set aside €500 million a year for projects in the applicant countries. But this sum, which will have to be shared between the ten central and east European countries, is dwarfed by the real needs of these countries. Poland could swallow up all the money single-handed.

The picture is, however, less grim than the usual stereotypes of poisoned soil and dead rivers. Warsaw has already begun cleaning up its water supplies and cutting back on the pollution from smokestack industries.

Officials claim Poland now spends 1.7% of its gross domestic product on tackling environmental problems.

Nuclear power also poses a major challenge. Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania all have high-risk plants which the EU wants brought up to western safety standards or closed.

Feature on the challenges meeting the EU's environmental standards.