Matching up to ‘green’ laws is a hard task

Date: 24/09/1998

By Simon Coss

CRITICS argue that in calling on the candidate countries to ensure that they match up to the Union's environmental laws, EU governments are being more than a little hypocritical.

On any given day, the European Commission has more investigations under way into alleged breaches of environmental laws by member states than in any other area.

Nearly all EU countries fail to meet the standards for nitrate levels, a large number have substandard water in their lakes, rivers and round their coasts, and several have been castigated for inadequately protecting areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Elsewhere, Union governments have been taken to task for breaking rules on packaging waste, incineration of dangerous products and air pollution.

Yet the call from the 15 to the applicants remains clear: 'clean up your act'. Perhaps they would be better off saying 'do as we say, not as we do'.

The message to the central and eastern European countries (CEECs) was pressed home most recently last week when Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard met the applicants' environment ministers.

Candidate countries, she said, would have to supply the Commission with “tight and realistic programmes for full compliance” with the Union's environmental rules.

The Commission will not begin formally screening the applicants' readiness to comply with the Union's environmental laws until early next year.

But it has already calculated that it will cost around 120 billion ecu to bring applicants into line with the Union's 320 pieces of 'green' legislation.

The institution says it hopes to be able to provide around 450 million ecu a year for the six years after 2000 to help them do this, but officials stress that it will be up to the CEECs themselves to find the bulk of the cash needed.