These partnerships are established especially in the organization of services for citizens like water supply, waste water treatment, waste disposal, etc. Cooperation between local governments can help to overcome human inability to manage local environmental issues. Associations of municipalities as legally-based bodies for protection and asserting common interests have been established in all the countries. The EAP is considered as a temporary, medium-term program, aimed at helping the CEE countries to catch up with western standards in environmental improvements. The strategy is based on a three-legged approach to policy reform, institutional strengthening and investments.
Priority is given to action, resulting in immediate, positive effects on human health.
The EAP calls attention to a lack of resources available for environmental improvement and weak institutions in the CEE countries. It provides guidelines to identify the highest priority problems and to develop realistic, efficient and cost-effective solutions. It stresses the importance of consensus-building with a strong participatory approach while planning environmental and economic development. EAP Principles in the LEAP Context Policy reforms Effective environmental protection can be based only on sound economic and environmental policies. These policies include a mixture of both regulatory measures and economic instruments that are applied where appropriate.