WRITTEN QUESTION E-1183/00

by Cristiana Muscardini (UEN) to the Commission

(12 April 2000)

Subject: EU enlargement and environmental protection

The disaster caused by the Baia Mare gold mine in Romania polluting the waters of the Danube with a huge quantity of cyanide has sounded more alarm bells concerning the parlous state of environmental protection in the countries seeking accession. The situation is alarming in that none of these countries meets all the requirements laid down by the EU.

This being so:

1. Does the Commission regard as sufficient the 50 billion earmarked for guaranteeing environmental protection in Agenda 2000?

2. Can the Commission state which countries are complying with the EU's rules in this domain?

3. Does the Commission agree that environmental protection, in addition to the environmental safety standards already called for in relation to nuclear power stations in the opinion adopted by the previous European Parliament, should be an essential prerequisite for EU accession?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(26 May 2000)

Agenda 2000 lays down the criteria for membership of the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The criteria include adopting and implementing the Community's legal acts. Recognising that this would be a major task in environment, but aware of the need to avoid an environmental gap between the Member States and the candidate countries, Agenda 2000 calls for realistic strategies for compliance with Community legislation, and concrete funding plans for implementation. Therefore, under Agenda 2000, pre-accession aid and new instruments to assist candidate countries in the costs of accession have been foreseen. Among these, the Structural policies for pre-accession (ISPA) instrument will provide 7 000 million over seven years from the year 2000. Half of this will be devoted to environmental infrastructure investment. Phare, from 2000, will provide 1 500 million a year for economic and social development, industrial reconstruction and for developing administrative capacity. This instrument can fund municipal infrastructure and industry related investments in clean-up and reduction of hazardous waste and emissions. Finally, the Pre-Accession assistance for agriculture and rural development (Sapard) instrument provides 500 million a year for agriculture and rural development schemes, including afforestation. However, as the Commission also stressed in Agenda 2000, the funding gap cannot be covered solely by the pre-accession aid. Important domestic and foreign financial resources, in particular from the private sector, will have to be mobilised in support of strategies for compliance with Community legislation.

In the light of the accident in the Baia Mare gold mine, the Commission is currently reviewing its environmental legislation in this area. Compliance with the acquis by candidate countries is constantly monitored with progress being reported in the regular reports. However, all candidate countries which have entered accession negotiations on environment with the Community have indicated that they will be in a position to implement the relevant Community legislation upon accession. In its common positions, the Union has requested from the candidate countries information on their timetable for transposition and implementation of the Community legislation in order to assess the situation in each of these countries.

Environment has high priority in the accession negotiations. In its general position for the accession conference opening the negotiations, the Community explicitly underlined the need to ensure a high level of environmental protection and in fact, the negotiating positions of the Community lay down a clear strategy to achieve this objective. This includes in particular giving priority to the transposition and implementation of industry-related legislation and legislation against trans-boundary pollution. In addition, the Community has called in its negotiating positions for all new investments in the candidate countries to comply with the environmental acquis already during the pre-accession period. On the other hand, in its composite paper accompanying the reports on progress towards accession by the candidate countries, the Commission also indicated that for those areas of the acquis where considerable adaptations are necessary and which require substantial effort, including important financial outlays, transitional arrangements could be spread over a definite period of time provided that candidates can demonstrate that alignment is underway and that they are committed to detailed and realistic plans for alignment, including the necessary investments.