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Danish strategy for environmental assistance to Eastern Europe 2001-2006

Chapter 3 - General objectives

The general objectives of the strategy for the Environmental Assistance Programme for Eastern Europe are to:

make the greatest possible contribution to the protection of the environment in Eastern Europe by supporting the Eastern European countries that have applied for EU membership in their efforts to implement EU environmental requirements as well as those of international environmental conventions,

help the CIS countries and other non EU pre-accession countries in their approach to an enlarged EU and to reduce the pollution which has a harmful impact on the health of the public; reduce the cross-border pollution that has an impact on EU countries; protect nature and biodiversity and implement international environmental conventions.

help to ensure that political and economic developments move in the direction of environmental sustainability, especially by supporting marketbased development and the promotion of democracy, also including the encouragement of responsibility in the private sector, involving the public and NGOs in decision-making processes in the environmental area, and increasing the integration of environmental considerations in other sector policies,

promote the use of Danish environmental expertise and technology for the benefit of the areas covered by this programme.

Specific objectives

Assistance in implementing the EU environmental requirements

With EU approximation as the primary, overall theme for assisting EU candidate countries in the future, the EU environmental acquis will be the point of departure in defining Country Programmes and selecting projects.

Danish environmental assistance will comprise direct support to carry out and implement EU environmental requirements in recipient countries in the form of preliminary work for investments or direct investments and, as a framework for this, to strengthen the relevant institutions centrally, regionally and locally in administering implementation, inspection and control.

It will be a condition - in accordance with EU requirements for pre-accession countries on eligibility to receive PHARE and ISPA assistance - that all new investments in the environment must comply with the EU environmental acquis. An evaluation corresponding to the EU environmental impact assessment (EIA) rules⁽¹⁵⁾ will need to be carried out in connection with all major private or public projects which could be expected to have a significant impact on the environment.

The EU pre-accession countries' action plans for implementing EU environmental requirements⁽¹⁶⁾ indicate the status of and priorities for EU approximation measures, institutional needs and calculations of expenditure and are an important point of departure for prioritising future assistance, together with the countries' national environmental action plans⁽¹⁷⁾ and ISPA⁽¹⁸⁾ strategies.

Assistance for the broader EU integration process

Over and above assistance in the implementation of EU Directives, the Environmental Assistance Programme will also emphasise the promotion of EU environmental policies and action plans in general, and support the ratification of and compliance with international conventions.

An effort will be made to better integrate environmental considerations in other sector policies, especially in such areas as climate, energy, health, agriculture, forestry and transport, and the promotion of sustainable development in the light of the EU's Fifth and Sixth Environmental Action Programmes. An attempt will also be made to strengthen the Community's sustainability strategy and the coming Johannesburg (Rio+10) summit meeting in 2002.

The effort to integrate the environment into other sectors will also continue to be the main area of activity in the "Danish Sector-integrated Environmental Assistance Programmes", as mentioned separately, as part of the continuation of the Cardiff Process.

In the CIS and the other countries not applying for EU membership, the measures should partly be seen in relation to their Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) with the EU⁽¹⁹⁾, and partly in relation to their concrete environmental situation. With reference to the European Energy Charter and the "Environment for Europe" process, the PCAs emphasise the need to improve environmental legislation in the direction of EU standards as well as for cooperation at a regional and international level as a framework to combat the deterioration of the environment in the CIS countries.

Putting the partnership agreements in the environmental area into practice is primarily carried out with the help of the EU Commission's TACIS programme. However, at present only a single country, Kazakhstan, has given priority to the environment as an area where measures should be undertaken in its national programme, over and above the environmental measures that are contained partly in TACIS' regional programme (REP), and partly in the crossborder programme (CBC).

Danish measures will in future attempt to promote greater complementarity and synergy between the Danish measures and EU measures, both at programme and project level, especially for the CIS countries that will border the new, enlarged EU (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova). Working for a more prominent environmental profile in the TACIS programme will be a leading Danish issue, both as an independent environmental area and also as an integral part of the other sectors.