On November 17th at the Belgrade Youth Center, during the 8th Green Fest, the fourth annual Report of the Coalition 27 was presented, focusing on the preparations of the Republic of Serbia to open chapter 27 within the framework of membership negotiations in the European Union.
The report titled "Chapter 27 in Serbia: Still under preparation (a year later)" covers the period between November 2016 and September 2017 and provides an overview of the most significant improvements, problems and events in the field of environmental protection and fight against climate change.
Participants of the panel on which the Report was presented were Ivan Karić, State Secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia, and Antoine Avignon, Representative of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia for Environmental Issues and, on behalf of the Coalition 27, Tanja Petrović, Director of Young Researchers of Serbia.
The key conclusion of the Report is that the environmental protection in Serbia is still not a priority. A positive step has been taken with the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, which is a signal that this topic is starting to be more important for decision-makers. Apart from this, there was no significant progress in the creation of public policies and the adoption of legal acts (due to presidential elections being closely tied to the reconstruction of the Government and blockade of work in Parliament).
The issue regarding instruments for financing the environmental protection is still untouched. The Green Fund, which had its establishment scheduled for the beginning of 2017, is not operational yet because it lacks the necessary by-laws. The Green Fund remains a budget line, so the effect of such financial instrument is questionable, given that public control over these funds is difficult. The general conclusion is that the amendments to the 2015 Budget System Law –which is why environmental compensation revenues lost their designated character - negatively affected the state's investment in environmental protection.
This is, and will be, a major problem, given the significant investments which will be needed in order for quality of environment in Serbia to meet the standards of the European Union. Mechanisms for controlling the expenditure of environmental protection means are still inadequate. Because of that, it is often the case that local government units use these - already insufficient funds - for non-environmental activities (such as deratization, maintenance of roads, water subsidies, etc).
Regarding the transparency of the adoption of regulations and public participation in the process, a certain progress has been made, although still a significant part of regulations and documents is being developed and adopted without public participation. The newly founded Ministry has shown openness for co-operation with civil society, organizing a series of consultative meetings. However, public participation in decision-making processes is still hampered, especially at the level of local governments which lack the capacity for full implementation of legal regulations and inspection supervision.
On behalf of Coalition 27, Tanja Petrović urged the Government of Serbia to make more substantial funds for environmental protection and climate change in 2018. She warned that in this year’s budget, almost 90% of the funds allocated for environmental protection were set for the recycling industry and less than 10% for remediation of environmental damage in emergency situations. Petrović urged the Serbian government to change this practice in 2018 because otherwise, Serbia would have "a recycling ministry, which no one had as a goal in mind". She also emphasized the importance of EU’s support for the realization of projects that contribute to the better quality of life of all Serbia’s citizens.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Ivan Karić emphasized the importance of civil sector's contribution to the establishment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. He said that he used Coalition 27 reports in his earlier work, and agreed with the majority of statements made in this year's Report. He announced a series of planned activities of the Ministry in order to start the Green Fund. He said there are two more by-laws missing before Green Fund becomes operational and that the Ministry is working hurriedly on it. He also announced long-term plans for changing the structure of this financial instrument: "The goal of the Ministry is that the Green Fund becomes an independent financial institution, not a budget line, so that other financial institutions could invested in it." He said that the current priorities of the Government of Serbia and the Ministry of Environmental Protection are pollution, financing instruments and waste and wastewater management. He also announced an addition of new criteria in environmental decision-making, such as the valuation of natural capital and the obligatory assessment of the cumulative effects of mini-hydro power plants.
Representative of the European Union Delegation to Serbia for Environmental Issues Antoan Avignon said that the European Union supports Serbia in improving the quality of the environment in the process of European integration. However, he stressed that the issue of the environment should not only be important because of "reporting back to the European Commission", but because of citizens of Serbia who "breathe air here, drink water here and use the food produced in Serbia", which is why support for the environmental protection is not just a question of solidarity, but a question of quality of life. His view is that the greatest challenges in this area are more efficient organization of the new Ministry, protection of water quality, waste and wastewater management and better protection of biodiversity. He also pointed out that it is understandable that time is needed for the candidate countries to achieve environmental standards of the European Union. "There is good and bad news in this situation. The good news is that there are transition periods and the support of European funds so that the candidate countrieswould be able to implement all environmental regulations. The bad news is that the European Commission has mechanisms that can make states pay a fine if they fail to implement their legal obligations."
All participants agreed that the issue of environmental protection is not opposed to economic progress, as the usual understanding of this topic suggests. On the contrary, they emphasized that the environmental protection, circular and green economy bring a number of opportunities for increased economic progress with reduced negative environmental impacts. "It may be possible that there will be a lesser need for certain professions in the future, but it is also certain that there will be green professions in renewable energy, recycling and food production, for which will come to a great demand." said Avignon.
At the end of the discussion panelists were invited to propose the title of the next Coalition Report 27, which will symbolically outline their expectations of further development in this area. Tanja Petrović said she hoped that the next report would carry the title "Chapter 27 - Finally begun", while State Secretary Ivan Karić said he thinks the title of the next report would be "Chapter 27 - First steps, still not enough", by which he wanted to say that he expects civil society to continue with constructive, critical views towards the work of state institutions in this area.
Behind the Coalition 27 Report, there is volunteer and co-operative work of eleven organizations seeking to contribute to policy improvement in the field of environmental protection and climate change. In addition to the Belgrade Open School, members of the Coalition 27 are the Safer Chemicals Alternative, Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development (CEKOR), Climate Action Network Europe, Environment Improvement Centre, GM Optimist, NGO Fractal, One Degree Serbia, Young Researchers of Serbia and World Organization for Nature (WWF). The report is issued with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
You can download the report here.
Author of the photo: Belgrade Open School