A press conference dedicated to the presentation of the 3rd shadows report from the Coalition 27 named "Chapter 27 in Serbia is Still in Preparation", was held at the Media & Reform Center in Nis on May 31, 2017.

The annual report summarizes the results of the monitoring and analysis of changes in the field of the environment and climate change in the Republic of Serbia, formed in accordance with the process of negotiations with the European Union under the Chapter 27. The report is an independent critical review of the numerous challenges and gives specific recommendations to the Government of the Republic of Serbia on how the process of negotiations and accession to the European Union could result in a real shift and the improvement of the situation the environment is in.

"Chapter 27 in Serbia: Still under Construction" Shadow Report deals with problems that have accumulated over decades, and that can be solved only with the full commitment of the Government and a determination to set the issues of the environment and climate change high on the priority list. Also, the intention of the report was to show that the concern about climate change and the quality of the environment is not only an obligation stemming from the negotiations with the EU but a matter concerning the health of all citizens – said Stevan Petrovic from Belgrade Open school in the name of Coalition 27.

The report of the Coalition 27, inter alia, states that the air in Serbia is among the most polluted in Europe (according to the European Environment Agency). It also refers to the World Health Organization estimation that the economic costs resulting from premature deaths due to the air pollution in Serbia amount to 33.5 percent of GDP and that only 10 per cent of waste water in our country is being purified.

As Milan Jovanovic, the Ecology Program Coordinator at the Cobra Group, has asserted, the state of the environment in Serbia and in our community is worrying, and the Cobra Group, in addition to organizing local actions aiming to protect the environment, has decided to partner with other organizations in Serbia in order to contribute to raising awareness and improving the environment policy at the national level. By reminding participants that the Cobra Group is a partner organization of the Young Researchers of Serbia in the project supported by REC (the Regional Center for Environmental Protection) within the CSO CONNECT program, he pointed out that one of the activities of organizations from Nis is presenting the 3rd Report on Serbia's Progress in the Negotiations Under the Chapter 27.

The report in full can be downloaded HERE.

Author of the photo: Belgrade Open School