Environmental Assistance to Eastern Europe 1. Introduction[1]By the Danish Minister for Environment and Energy, Svend Auken A great deal of effort lies ahead, which the CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) will be unable to finance themselves, as they have many other urgent tasks. There is therefore a need to increase the range of financing options - from the EU, the individual donor countries and international banks. In the EU we are at present discussing changes to the structural funds that will, in turn, provide more money for environmental tasks, though that is not their specific purpose. We will need to work with transitional schemes, but the environmental standard we have achieved ourselves must not be jeopardised in the name of harmonisation. As an element of the preparatory work, Denmark has entered into agreements with Poland, the three Baltic States and Bulgaria on expanded co-operation on pre-accession. We are also assisting the Czech Republic in the water sector. In Denmark, we decided long ago to provide environmental assistance on the most urgent pollution problems in Eastern Europe. We do this through both the Danish Environmental Support Fund (DESF) and sector-integrated environmental assistance in selected sectors such as energy, agriculture and transport. Protecting the immense natural resources in Central and Eastern Europe is another task that is being given ever-increasing priority. What began almost as a rescue action prompted by the break-up in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 has developed in just a few years into a coherent Danish environment policy on Central and Eastern Europe that is crystallising around two main elements. The first element is a general position on what the CEEC should and must achieve with respect to environment policy. This means both fulfilling the obligations they have assumed in the international environmental conventions and taking the action needed to ensure a modern environmental and health standard. Gradually, an expectation - if not a demand - has arisen that if the CEEC want to be taken seriously, they will also have to implement an environment policy with a significant level of ambition. The countries that have applied for EU membership will have to comply with the EU environmental regulations. And if they have not realised it before, then the negotiations for admission will make it evident for them that this means implementing environmental regulation, with the necessary institutions, and undertaking a wide range of investments in concrete projects. The second element is the environmental assistance itself, which, in Denmark's case, is very substantial. Of the DKK 630 million set aside in the Appropriation Act in connection with the Environment and Disaster Relief Facility (EDRF), DKK 430 million are earmarked for the Danish Environmental Support Fund for Eastern Europe (DESF), DKK 100 million for sector-integrated environmental assistance (energy and nuclear safety, agriculture and transport), and DKK 100 million for the Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe's (IØ Fund's) "Green Investment Facility", which is used to buy shares in Danish companies investing in environmental projects in Eastern Europe. A good example of a Danish project involves investigating and planning the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances in a number of countries, including Russia: a Danish grant of DKK 10 million has prepared proposals for a DKK 700 million grant from the Global Environment Facility for implementing the planned projects. The environmental effect is an almost complete phase-out of the production of ozone-depleting substances in Central and Eastern Europe, followed by export from Denmark of new Danish district heating pipes without these substances. A particular challenge in the years ahead will be to ensure a balance between the countries at the head of the queue for EU membership and those that have to wait until later. We must help the former to fulfil their obligations on time, but we must also help to keep up the environment policy momentum in the latter. Such a difficult balancing act requires great care and attention. A number of countries within the European Union, and among them Denmark, are front runners in the international environmental co-operation. However, other countries - especially those in Eastern Europe - must keep pace, not only for their own sakes but also because many environmental problems are transboundary problems. We have therefore attached importance to helping the countries to meet the requirements in the environmental conventions to which they have acceded. That applies, for example, to the Baltic Sea work, atmospheric pollution, ozone-depleting substances and hazardous waste. Denmark has played an important part in the international process of negotiation on Europe's environmental problems, by hosting the Pan-European Conference of Environment Ministers in Århus (the Århus Conference) in June 1998. This was the biggest international environmental conference ever held in Denmark, and the main item on the agenda was the environmental integration of Eastern Europe[2]. The CEEC are being hitched to the environment policy wagon, and Western Europe has concentrated mainly on those countries. The next challenge in the Pan-European environmental process is the environmental integration of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the former Soviet republics. We must strive for better co-operation between the countries of Central Europe and the newly independent states further east, which must also be enabled to fulfil their environmental obligations. One particular theme at the Århus Conference was public access to information on environmental issues and the involvement of the NGOs in the CEEC's environment policy. Good progress was made in 1997 on the preparation of a convention on access to environmental information which was subsequently signed at the 1998 conference[3]. It is no secret that many of the CEEC have been reluctant to publish environmental data. Denmark's support has contributed to the fact that several of the countries now earmark a larger percentage of their gross national product for environmental purposes than many West European countries - including Denmark! Poland and the Baltic States are good examples of such a major effort. For every krone of Danish support, the CEEC have, on average, found three kroner to invest in Danish-supported environment projects. There are still many environment tasks in the CEEC, and Denmark's environmental assistance will continue to act as a catalyst for other investments - both from international sources of finance, such as the EU's support schemes, international banks and from the countries themselves. The main aim of the Danish Government's strategy on assistance for Eastern Europe is to help the new democracies as quickly as possible, using the experience that we have achieved in the field of environment in Denmark. I believe that aim has been achieved. We have gained a good reputation in many of the countries - particularly the Baltic States. The support for Central and Eastern Europe is also helping to improve security in the region. Development and democratisation of the societies there will increase stability. That will not happen through rearmament. Improvements in the environment and energy sector contribute to the security policy. It can be called a form of "soft" security achieved through support for development of the countries and integration in a ramified network encompassing environment, democracy and economic development.
Notes:1. The introduction is an edited version of an article that appeared in the Danish newspaper "Kristeligt Dagblad" on 31 January 1998. 2. More detailed information on the Århus Conference appears in the Annual Report of the Danish Environmental Support Fund for Eastern Europe (DESF) for 1998. 3. The convention signed in Århus was named "The Århus Convention" since it is common practice in such contexts to name international environmental agreements after the place where they are signed.
|