Danish support to improved water quality in Central and Eastern Europe 1991-2001
Chapter
5
DANCEE support to the CEEC accession into the EU
| 5.1 | EU Approximation |
| 5.2 | Preparation of EU Financed Projects |
The EU accession countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia) have in the socalled Accession Partnerships - the national programmes for implementation of the European Community's regulation - committed themselves to gradual implementation of the Environmental Acquis.
The DANCEE support to the CEEC accession into the EU takes two principle forms:
 | Approximation to EU directives |
| Preparation of EU financed projects |
5.1 EU Approximation
The EU directives, which are directly relevant for the water environment are the Directives on Water Quality and the IPPC Directive targeting industrial installations. DANCEE has supported especially countries of CEE around the Baltic Sea, in adapting their legislation to the Water Quality and IPPC directives. The studies include necessary investments to bring countries in line with the requirements in the directives. A realistic implementation plan is prepared taking into account the financial, administrative, and technical capacity of the recipient country. Many countries are given a 10-15 year period to fully comply to the directives. Included in the financial capacity is the affordability of consumers to pay tariffs and for industries to invest in cleaner technology.
EU Water Quality Directives The EU Water Quality Directives is a term encompassing the EU Directives related to Water Quality i.e. Directives on Urban Wastewater Treatment, Drinking Water, Bathing Water, Dangerous Substances to Water, Nitrates, and other directives. In year 2000 the EU passed the Water Framework Directive which is an umbrella directive for all the Water Quality Directives. |
The IPPC-Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) The IPPC-Directive is about minimising pollution from industrial point sources. All installations covered by Annex I of the Directive are required to obtain a permit which must be based on the concept of Best Available Technique (BAT). The IPPC Directives implies that uniform EU permitting rules are applied which will avoid the socalled environmental dumping where companies move from one part of EU to another because the environmental requirements are less strict there. |
EU is supporting investments in large environmental projects through the ISPA funding. Every year the ISPA resources are allocated among the recipient countries according to population, per capita GDP and land surface area.
ISPA. Instrument for Structural Policies for PreAccession Over the period from 2000 to 2006 a total of EUR 1,058 million per year are allocated for large infrastructure projects in the CEEC applying for EU memberships. Half of the funds are earmarked for transportation projects, the other half for environmental projects. The projects must be larger than EUR 5 million and the project should clearly document that they support EU membership and compliance to EU Directives. |
In the beginning of 1999 it was realised that virtually no project preparation for the
ISPA facility were taking place because EU had not provided resources for technical
assistance to the project preparation. DANCEE therefore in 1999 supported the preparation
of terms of reference for 65 ISPA environment projects in 9 of the 10 applying countries
of the CEE. The terms of reference were handed over to the applying countries and the EU
for further project preparation.
Following the support to prepare terms of reference for ISPA application, DANCEE has supported preparation of ISPA applications for countries of the CEE in the Baltic Sea watershed and Bulgaria and Romania. These applications typically included feasibility studies, financial analysis, and environmental impact assessment. These projects are purely technical assistance as it is the policy of EU not to cofinance these projects with bilateral grants. The remaining financial resources for an ISPA project is to be provided by the recipient country sometimes through a loan from EBRD, NEFCO/NIB or EIB.