Two-pronged approach to EU applicants

Date: 10/02/2000

By Simon Taylor

Raising environment standards in the countries bidding for EU membership remains one of the biggest challenges of the enlargement process.

According to Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström, the 12 applicant countries face a bill of €120 billion to comply with the Union's strict eco-rules.

But despite the scale of the problem, the EU only intends to provide €3.6 billion over the next seven years to help the candidates improve their environmental performance. The rest of the money will have to come from a mixture of public and private investment, with the help of the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The Union has nevertheless already shown some flexibility towards the applicant countries, in the hope that this will encourage them to make as much progress as possible by the time they join, rather than setting unachieveable high targets.

EU governments are taking a two-pronged approach towards environmental standards. In cases where industry in the candidate countries could gain a competitive advantage by not having to comply with the same ecological criteria as existing member states, the Union is very strict, insisting that applicants must bring their legislation into line with EU rules as soon as possible.

This reflects fears that factories in the East will have major cost advantage if they do not have to cut pollution - an issue which has already raised political hackles in parts of the Union such as Austria which share a border with the applicant countries.

In other areas, however, the Union is being more understanding. When it comes to waste-water treatment, for example, EU governments know that the massive investment needed can only come from the strained public purses of the cash-strapped applicant countries, so they are prepared to allow the candidates transition periods to bring their standards into line.

To an extent, this approach demonstrates enlightened self-interest. "If we set targets that are too difficult to meet, the applicants will either ask us for more money to achieve them or not make any effort at all," said one enlargement expert.

At the end of last year, European Commission officials and negotiators from the six leading candidate countries held their first meeting devoted to tackling environmental problems head on.

While Cyprus said it would have little problem complying with the EU's rules, the other five - Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic - all had similar difficulties. Most asked for delays before having to match up to Union standards on waste water treatment, and made it clear that rules on waste disposal, especially for hazardous substances, posed a major challenge.

EU officials were not prepared to agree to their requests for 'grace' periods at this stage, opting instead to push the candidates to scale back their demands. Serious hard bargaining on this 'chapter' of Union legislation is expected to continue until the very last stage of the enlargement negotiations.

Although some of the leading applicants have make impressive progress in some areas - the Czech Republic had met EU standards on airborne sulphur-dioxide levels by 1 January this year - the Commission is concerned that the applicant countries are not taking the issue seriously enough, regarding it as something which only pampered westerners get bothered about.

This prompted warnings from Wallström in December that would-be EU members needed to make the environment a bigger political priority. "It has to do with the attitude they have. We cannot just leave the environment out and say it is not important and concentrate on things that are important for the economy," she insisted.

The Commission's last report on all 12 applicants' performance in the environmental field was highly critical. "None of the candidate countries are very far advanced in the transposition of environment laws," it stated, although it acknowledged that some progress had been made.

Poland was singled out for having an especially poor track record, with the Commission pointing out that it did not have an "overall strategy". Romania and Bulgaria, which have been invited to start formal negotiations on EU entry this spring, face particular challenges.

Bucharest was criticised for "not seeming to grant the environment sector the necessary priority" and for serious problems in the air, water and waste management sectors.

Sofia had made some progress in terms of legislation but lacked an "overall strategy needed for identifying investment projects".

Officials involved in negotiating with the applicant countries have no illusions about how difficult it will be to reach agreement on environmental targets. "This will be one of the very last chapters we close, along with agriculture," said one diplomat.

Raising environment standards in the countries bidding for EU membership remains one of the biggest challenges of the enlargement process. Article forms part of a survey 'Environment'.