Farewell to the old days of sooty smokestacks and dodgy waste dumps

Date: 29/04/04

Margot Wallström insists that the pace of environmental policymaking will not slow down after 1 May.

Reviewing the state of "green" affairs in the accession countries on the eve of enlargement, the EU environment commissioner recently downplayed fears that the arrival of ten relatively poor states might reduce the Union's enthusiasm in this field.

"I'm not as worried as people who say we'll become less ambitious on environment," she said. "NGOs [in the accession countries] have been able to put green issues on the agenda and we've seen the strengthening of ministries, so I don't see a dramatic change in environmental policymaking."

Gone are the old "Eastern bloc" days of sooty smokestacks and dodgy waste dumps ticking away like time-bombs that gave the so-called Black Triangle bordering Poland and the Czech Republic its ominous name.

"Almost 100% of the acquis [EU laws] relating to the environment have now been transposed by the new member states," Wallström proudly proclaimed.

Moreover, the Swede added, enlargement provides an unprecedented opportunity for the EU to reinforce the Commission's strategy to advance policy follow-through and legislative coherence, rather than table new legislation.

"What we will see is more attention given to implementation and the links between policies," she said.

However, the commissioner conceded there was still much work to be done to fight industrial pollution, deal with waste and set up nature protection sites. But she expressed confidence that the new member states will meet legally binding deadlines outlined in a series of transition periods inserted in the accession treaty, that aim to fill in the gaps.

A final European Commission progress report last November found the ten accession countries to be "for the most part well on track" to implementing EU environment legislation by 1 May 2004.

But it said "enhanced efforts" were still required in some areas: Estonia on air quality; the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta, Estonia and Poland on nature protection; Malta and Estonia on waste management, and; Hungary, Poland, Estonia and Slovakia on industrial pollution control.

Much progress has been made since then, but green groups such as Friends of the Earth maintain that EU funding for the accession states has too often targeted large infrastructure projects that ignore environmental considerations.

They also have claimed that "end-of-pipe" solutions to environmental problems were being favoured over more proactive approaches such as recycling and waste reduction, calling for greater transparency, more monitoring and public participation.

At the same time, concerns that the accession countries were not spending anywhere near enough on environmental protection to adapt to EU standards were expressed in a report published in November 2002 by EU statistical office Eurostat.

Based on figures for 1996-2000, it found that by far the most cash went on taking care of and treating pollution generated by production processes, rather than on prevention.

Only Hungary bucked this trend at the time, investing just under 60% of its estimated "green" funds on pollution prevention.

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a Brussels-based umbrella association representing a network of environmental NGOs across Europe, has now conducted its own study of the "green mood" in the ten new member states just ahead of enlargement.

It sent out a questionnaire to several of its members in the accession countries to establish what their biggest outstanding concerns were. The results are due to be published by 1 May.

Friends of the Earth has conducted a similar survey based on responses from its NGO member organizations in the acceding countries.

The Commission has estimated the cost of compliance with the investment-heavy environmental acquis for the ten acceding countries to amount to between e50-80 billion, though the EEB puts this figure at e80-120 bn.

Both figures would require each new member state on average to spend between 2-3% of gross domestic product on the environment in the coming years, with current expenditure generally well below this amount.

This is "a much higher percentage than in the existing, much richer, member states", the EEB points out in a preliminary overview of its survey results.

"The EU would only sponsor a small part of this [roughly 10%]. So an awful lot of transition periods were expected as outcomes of the negotiations," it adds.

To the EEB's delight, however, "this negative scenario" did not come about: "Only a small number of transition periods have been agreed, for a few of the most costly directives. Environmental organizations in the accession countries were not unhappy with the results."

This pleasant surprise, however, was partly the result of the headway made in the past 14 years in cleaning up the mess left over from decades of clumsy command-style economic regimes.

Poland, for example, halved its sulphur emissions in the 1990s and the Czech Republic has gone a long way towards cleaning up a 41-year legacy of heavy industry-friendly communist rule.

According to the Commission, levels of the major air pollutants have declined by 60-80% and toxic metals by 50%. Organic matter pollution of water has decreased by as much as 80%, as the percentage of homes and other installations whose effluent is sent to waste water treatment plants doubled in the 1990s.

But, the EEB warns, "these positive developments" were not always "based on deliberate environment and health policies", and may deliver only "temporary benefits".

Moreover, despite all the progress that has been made, the EEB member organizations are worried the new states will make competitiveness, rather than environmental protection, their top priority.

Developments in the transport and energy sectors could prove particularly worrying in this regard, they claim. "The huge investments in transport and energy infrastructure expected to come with enlargement could have long-lasting negative environmental impacts," the EEB cautions.

In an April 2004 memo, the Commission also stresses that future EU financial assistance should "prioritize sustainable transport projects".

In terms of energy consumption for transport, for example, the new member states have actually performed better than the current 15 member states, it stresses. "Indicators are worrying, however, with declines in rail transport for freight, a 62% increase in motorway lengths and a 73% increase in car ownership," it adds.

Both the EEB and Wallström also warn that environmental authorities in the accession countries still have problems securing adequate levels of funding and qualified staff, making "enforcement on the ground a big challenge".

"Several accession countries still have much to do to establish the administrative structures and institutional capacity for that purpose," the EEB says.

Another key concern is whether the new member states will stick to deadlines for implementation, although most of the EEB members surveyed view the transition periods agreed as both necessary and realistic. Still, EEB members in Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Poland, in particular, "are certain that the implementation will take longer than previously planned".

Among the toughest directives allowing transition periods are: the urban waste water treatment directive, which alone will require major investments of around e15 billion, and for which all ten countries have been granted adjustment time; recovery and recycling of packaging (nine countries); air pollution from large combustion plants (nine countries); emissions of voluntary organic compounds from storage of petrol (seven countries), and; integrated pollution prevention control (five countries).

Meanwhile, the World Wide Fund for Nature has recently called for "fundamental reform" of the EU's agricultural and regional policies, without which it warned "the environmental gains from accession will be lost".

It has also claimed that illegal logging in the eastern part of Europe was a serious threat to wildlife.

But Wallström said that, although she was aware of the problem, the EU had limited powers to intervene in the trade.

Article is part of a European Voice Special Report on EU Enlargement. The new Member States have implemented almost 100% of the acquis relating to the environment, says Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström. However, there is still work to be done.