Enlargement
EU enlargement provides a major opportunity for the environment, but also a significant challenge for the candidate countries (Turkey, Croatia, fYRoM, Iceland) and potential candidates (Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo under UNSCR 1244). The perspective of eventual membership of the Union gives additional momentum and focus and EU environmental legislation provides a concrete target to be achieved.
In order to join the Union, countries need to fulfil the economic and political conditions known as the 'Copenhagen criteria' according to which a prospective member must:
By their date of accession, candidate countries must be able to effectively apply all EU legislation and policy. During the pre-accession period, the Commission works with the candidate countries and potential candidates to assist them in adapting their environmental legislation and upgrading their implementation and enforcement capacities in order to meet the EU's environmental protection requirements.
Preparations for membership present three particular challenges for the environmental sector
- Legal: over 300 pieces of EU environmental legislation have to be transposed into national legislation in a short space of time;
- Administrative: often weak and under-resourced administrations have to be significantly strengthened to be able to apply the environmental acquis.
- Financial: substantial investment in infrastructure and technology is needed to overcome years of insufficient funding and inadequate attention to environmental priorities
The EU’s Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) was launched in 1999 and is the EU framework policy for the countries of South East Europe (except Turkey). It aimed to bring about environmental improvements in the longer term through:
With the recent history of conflict in the Balkans, the initial focus was on physical reconstruction and rehabilitation. This emphasis has now shifted to institution-building with the aim of assisting the reform processes and thus preparing countries for a closer relationship with the EU.
As non-member states, relations with the countries of the region are governed by formal agreements that have to be ratified by EU Member States. The different types of agreement are:
Association Agreement
For Turkey, an Association Agreement from 1963 is the basis of current relations. This early agreement was focused on the creation of a Customs Union (established in 1995).
Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs)
These agreements are used to support EU policy in the Western Balkans. The agreements with fYRoM and Croatia are now in force. Stabilization and Association Agreement and Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related issues have been signed with Serbia (April 2008), Bosnia & Herzegovina (June 2008), Albania (May 2006) and Montenegro (Oct. 2007). For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, the interim agreements are in force while the SAAs will enter into force once the ratification process is completed. The Accession Partnerships for candidate countries and European Partnerships for potential candidates set out the short and medium term priorities that the countries and territory need to fulfil in their approximation to EU norms and standards.
The latest enlargement has demonstrated that a number of sectors and issues can be problematic. They are:
Air Quality
Waste
The management of municipal and hazardous wastes presented significant challenges with transition periods being granted to all of the new Member States. The Landfill Directive required important investments and in most candidate countries 80% of the landfill sites needed upgrading.
Water
Major investment programmes were required for the management of wastewater and to improve drinking water quality. Implementation of the Water Framework Directive requires heavy preparatory work and a strong institutional set-up. The Nitrates Directive proved difficult with countries needing to define vulnerable zones and establish action plans to be implemented by farmers.
Industrial Pollution Control and Risk Management
The Directive on Industrial Emissions concerns thousands of firms and installations in these countries, and large-scale investments were/are needed to bring about compliance.
Nature Protection
Delays and difficulties were experienced in the definition of Natura 2000 sites. This was coupled with poor implementation of existing laws on nature protection. The Natura 2000 network is a key component in the protection of the rich bio-diversity of these countries and attention still needs to be paid to this issue.
Progress reports on the approximation efforts of the candidate countries and potential candidates are issued every year including a section on chapter27 (Environment).
The assistance from DG Environment includes:
- Explaining the EU legislation to all stakeholders;
- Continuous monitoring of progress towards transposition and implementation of the Environment acquis among others during technical meetings;
- Technical Consultations on papers prepared by a country;
- Provide expertise to other DGs in particular as concerns evaluation of project proposals in the field of environment or drafting of the yearly progress reports
- Coordination of peer based assessments with Member States of a country's administrative capacity.
Bilateral cooperation
Candidate Countries
After the successful Enlargement of the European Union with 10 New Member States in 2004, and with Romania and Bulgaria on 1 January 2007, the enlargement process presently covers the following candidate countries: Turkey , Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and Iceland
As a key element of the accession process, negotiations are held with each candidate country to determine their ability to apply EU legislation (acquis). In order to conduct the accession negotiations, EU legislation and standards are broken down into 35 chapters which are negotiated one by one. DG Environment is assisting the countries particularly in preparing to comply with the Environmental chapter (chapter 27).
An underlying principle of the negotiations is that countries have to fully transpose and implement the EU legislation by the time of accession. Transitional measures can be granted for investment-heavy directives, provided that the measures are limited in time and scope. These are mainly in the field of waste, water, industrial pollution and air quality. No transitional periods are granted to horizontal legislation (Environmental impact assessment, Access to information etc.), nature legislation or framework legislation (Waste framework legislation, water framework legislation etc.). Transition periods are only granted on the basis of detailed justification of the need, and on the basis of realistic implementation plans specifying the steps that will be taken to ensure full compliance with the target legislation by the end of the transition period.
Croatia is the most advanced candidate country in its way towards accession. It was declared a candidate country in June 2004. Negotiations were opened on 3 October 2005 and Chapter 27 (Environment) was open on 19 February 2010. Negotiations across all chapters are expected to be completed in the first half of 2011.
Turkey was declared a candidate country in December 1999. Negotiation talks were opened on 3 October 2005 and Chapter 27 was open for negotiations on 21 December 2009. Technical discussions are on-going in areas such as water, waste, or horizontal legislation.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was declared a candidate country in December 2005. Opening of negotiations will depend on the progress made in aligning with the EU acquis. In October 2009, the Commission recommended that negotiations for accession to the European Union should be opened. However, the on-going name dispute with Greece is hampering further progress.
Iceland
The Government of Iceland submitted its application for EU-Membership on 16 July 2009. Following thorough assessment of Iceland's application by the Commission's services, candidate country status was granted on 17 June 2010. Iceland is part of the EEA and is a member of Schengen. As such it already has implemented significant portions of the EU acquis, including in the area of environment.
Montenegro
Montenegro submitted the application for EU membership in December 2008. Following the Council's request the Commission Opinion on the application was adopted in November 2010. The Commission recommends Candidate Status, and the opening of accession negotiations, if progress is recorded in a number of key areas as set out in the opinion. Environment is listed among the most challenging areas.
Potential Candidates
These are countries/entities which have a clear prospect of joining the EU in the future but are not yet candidate countries.
Albania
Albania applied for the EU membership in April 2009. At the request of the Council the Commission adopted Opinion on Albania's application in November 2010. The recommendation for a candidate status was not made. A number of conditions for moving ahead in the accession process are set in the Opinion.
Serbia
Serbia applied for the candidate country status in December 2009. In October 2010 the Council acknowledged Serbia's application for membership of the European Union and invited the Commission to submit an opinion on it. The Commission handed over the questionnaire to Serbia in November 2010. It is foreseen that the opinion will be formulated in the second half of 2011.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Stabilisation and Association Agreement negotiations were opened in September 2005. On the technical level the SAA negotiations completed in December 2006. The SAA was initialled on December 4th, 2007. Bosnia-Herzegovina and the European Union signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement on 16 June 2008. The country has not submitted to the EU any application for candidate status so far.
Kosovo
UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) placed Kosovo under the transitional administration of the United Nations. Kosovo's authorities declared independence on 17 February 2008. The European Union took note of the declaration of independence, left to the Member States to decide on the recognition and asked the Commission to enhance the cooperation with Kosovo. The special situation of Kosovo prompted the Commission to set up a Stabilisation and Association Tracking Mechanism (STM). The overall objective of the dialogues taking place in the framework of the STM on various sectors, including environment, is to further deepen collaboration on EU approximation advice. The recommendations of the STM serve as reform guidelines and benchmarks.
The Turkish Cypriot Community is a specific case. Cyprus joined the EU on 1 May 2004 as a divided island, and the two parts remain divided by the "Green Line" that separates the government-controlled areas from the rest of the island. The whole of the island is in the EU, and Turkish Cypriots are EU citizens. However, in the northern part of the island, in the areas in which the Government of Cyprus does not exercise effective control, EU legislation is suspended in line with Protocol 10 of the Accession Treaty 2003. The situation will change once a Cyprus settlement enters into force and it will then be possible for EU rules to apply over the whole of the island. The European Union has adopted an Aid Regulation for the benefit of the Turkish Cypriot Community (TCC) aimed, amongst other things, to help with the preparation for the implementation of the EU acquis, including in the field of environment, in case of a comprehensive settlement
Regional cooperation
Regional cooperation is an important component of the enlargement process.
The European Commission has been the driving force in the development of the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme (known as REReP). This programme was launched in 2000 in Skopje and came to an end in 2009. This programme provided a framework in which environmental actions could be pursued at a regional level in the Balkans. Its main aims were to bring about the necessary reforms for sustainable environmental protection;
RENA
In June 2007 a meeting of Ministers for Environment from the Western Balkans and Turkey was organised in Brussels to launch an enhanced regional cooperation process in the field of environment: RENA (Regional Environmental Network for Accession). The proposed framework building on the results achieved so far by REReP will have as main objectives:
The cooperation will be conducted at ministerial and working level. The former will set priorities for actions and ensure political commitment; the latter will implement the work programme through seminars, workshops etc.
The work will be conducted under four working groups:
More information is available on the RENA web site is www.renanetwork.org
Environment Forum
Environment Forum is a project intended for all environmental non-governmental organizations (from Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo under UNSCR 1244, and Turkey interested and involved in the EU enlargement process. It aims to support NGOs in their active and constructive role in the enlargement process. The project builds on the previous NGO Dialogue and New NGO Forum which were focused on the issues of information exchange and improvement in transparency between NGOs and the Commission. One of its goals is to develop capacities of environmental NGOs to establish a constructive dialogue with national authorities.
The Environment forum web site www.envforum.eu |