 |
|
|
|
| PRESS
RELEASE
Brussels, Tuesday, 26 November --- EU aid to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe should be used efficiently and should contribute to sustainable development of the accession countries. This was the message presented by the CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe at a conference held at the European Parliament on November 25 and 26. At the conference, the two organisations released a special report outlining problems with the European Union’s pre-accession funds and offering a set of recommendations for improving their use. The pre-accession aid for candidate countries – ISPA, SAPARD and Phare – will cause profound changes in the economies of Central and East European countries and will have an enormous impact on the environment through new strategies and projects in infrastructure, energy, nature conservation, agriculture and the environment. The conference and report (“Billions for Sustainability? - Lessons learned from the use of pre-accession funds”) question whether pre-accession funds are used being efficiently and in a democratic manner. Problematic projects mentioned by conference participants include the Struma motorway in Bulgaria or the D8 highway in the Czech Republic, both of which threaten the environment, even though environmental protection and high environmental standards should be pre-requisites for accession. “We have been monitoring the pre-accession funds for the last three years,” says Jozsef Feiler, policy co-ordinator for the CEE Bankwatch Network, “and we can see that theory and practice are often light years apart when it comes to these funds. Environmental concerns are often shoved aside when large-scale infrastructure is at stake.” Public participation is crucial for strengthening democracy in the countries, by creating a feeling of ‘ownership’ among ordinary citizens and ensuring the transparent and proper use of public funds. Therefore the conference organisers are calling for binding requirements on public participation to be put in the revised guidelines for pre-accession funds as well as EU structural and cohesion funds. “With proper public participation, the corruption scandal in Slovakia would not have happened”, emphasises Juraj Zamkovsky from Friends of the Earth Slovakia, referring to a scandal involving EU funds. Access to information is equally important. A survey conducted in Poland as part of the project found that municipalities did not have equal access to information regarding applying for funding, or about the funds’ procedures and priorities. Only 30% of survey respondents were familiar with the Polish ISPA environmental strategy before applying for the funds, meaning they did not know whether their proposed project even qualified for support. The candidate countries have to fulfil EU environmental standards, but at the same time lack the resources to do so. The conference underlined the need for EU support in this area, as well. “We call on the EU to look at potential barriers and possible solutions that could help countries meet EU environmental directives within the agreed-upon period”, adds Andrzej Gula from the Environmental Tax Reform Institute in Poland. The NGO report contains a set of recommendations for the European Commission and for the governments of recipient countries suggesting improvements in pre-accession funds and changes in structural and cohesion funds. “Our countries cannot afford to waste money, so we need to push for the sustainable use of funds on environmental, social and economic grounds”, concluded Magda Stoczkiewicz, accession co-ordinator for CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe ----------------------------------------------- For further
information please contact: You can download
the “Billions for Sustainability?” report at:
|
