1 Welcome Address by Ms. Marina Matulović Dropulić Minister 1 st ECENA Plenary Meeting Zagreb, Croatia January, 2006 MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

2 Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to greet you, on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction (MEPPPC), as well as on my personal behalf, as the participants of the 1 st Plenary Meeting of the ECENA network in Croatia. I particularly greet the representatives of the European Commission, the World Bank, REC, IMPEL and ECENA Secretariats. Allow me, as the host of this distinguished conference, to briefly present the Ministry's basic activity. This activity is currently marked by Croatia's tasks in the negotiation process on accession to the EU. I have to point out that the current Government of the Republic of Croatia has put emphasis in its programme on the protection of the environment and space as a strategic goal of further development and that all our activities are oriented in this direction. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

3 A long way has been covered since the 70s, when in Croatia awareness of environmental threats started growing and when the development of a separate environmental protection system began through the legislative and expert attitude towards the environment. It should be pointed out that international co-operation in this field, particularly in planning the development of the Adriatic area, was a strong stimulus for environmental knowledge enrichment as well as for the introduction of systematic environmental research and monitoring of the state of the environment. MEPPPC is the central state authority performing, among others, administrative and expert affairs of environmental protection, particularly with regard to issues of general environmental protection, waste management and air protection, as well as protection of the sea and coast. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

4 Other state administrative bodies have relevant responsibilities with regard to single components of environmental protection, such as water, nature, noise and chemicals. The following bodies operate within the environmental protection system: Croatian Environment Agency; Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund; Croatian Waters; State Institute for Nature Conservation; State Institute for Radiation Protection; and Directorate for Protection and Rescue. Within the Ministry, the Directorate for Environmental Protection and the Directorate for Strategic and Integration Processes in Environmental Protection, as well as the Directorate for Inspection are established, this latter including the environmental inspection, the building inspection and the urban planning inspection. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

5 The Directorate for Inspection is organised in such a way to include, in addition to a central service in Zagreb, 20 departments for inspection control in all towns that are seats of counties. At the end of 2005 in this Directorate 61 civil servants were employed on tasks of inspection control of environmental protection. Pursuant to currently effective regulations, care for environmental protection is a mandatory task also of state bodies at the county level, as well as of local self- government units within their constitutional and legislative authorities. Currently the Ministry employs a total of 107 civil servants working directly on environmental protection tasks. It can be stated that within the environmental protection system in the Republic of Croatia currently some 500 persons are employed at administrative environmental protection affairs. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

6 In this period there has been also a permanent increase in funds allocated from the state budget for the improvement of the state of the environment and for environmental protection. In Croatia also 268 non-governmental organisations operate, for which, on an annual basis, the Ministry allocates budget funds to support their environmental projects. In view of the tasks in realising environmental protection objectives in Croatia, for this Ministry the highest increase in the number of employees has been planned. At the same time account is taken of continuous improvement of civil servants' working conditions and their permanent education, particularly by intensive involvement in international programmes, projects and exchange of experiences at seminars, training programmes, workshops at home and abroad. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

7 Also in other ministries and institutions activities are carried on at strengthening administrative capacities and professional improvement. By the adoption of the National Environmental Protection Strategy in 2002 and the Priority Activities Plan (PAP), that was developed in cooperation with the World Bank and the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP), a basis was created for the financing of priority projects by international financial institutions. In early 2004, systematic harmonisation of the legislative framework with the legislation and standards of the EU began. A new act and regulations on air protection were adopted, regulating the system of measures, the way of organising and implementing air quality protection and improvement, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

8 and a new act on waste, defining basic waste management principles, such as: the polluter pays principle, producer's responsibility, proximity of recycling and disposal, and waste management planning documents. The programme of waste management measures of 2004 defines basic problems and priority measures for their solution, whereas the Waste Management Strategy of the Republic of Croatia for the period up to 2025, as adopted by the Croatian Parliament in autumn 2005, determines the main objectives in this field, i.e.: establishment of an integral waste management system, remediation and closing down of existing landfills, remediation of environment highly burdened with waste ("hot spots"), development of a maximum of 21 waste management centres with pre-treatment of waste prior to final disposal, THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

9 and establishment of full computerisation of this system. The basic implementation document to achieve the main objectives from the Waste Management Strategy is the Waste Management Plan of the Republic of Croatia, to be adopted by mid-2006 for a 4-year period, on the basis of which relevant 2-year county waste management plans will be adopted. In the field of inspection control of environmental protection continuous activities are carried including awareness raising of the controlled entities on the need of their lawful behaviour and of inspection control in order to prove their correct economic and other activities. Depending on the complexity of the technological process and the irregularities observed on occasion of previous controls, systematic inspection controls are performed of MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

10 technological units and facilities having impact on the state and quality of the environment; inspection control is carried out also on the basis of complaints by citizens, NGO's as well as in case of accidents. Analyses of inspection controls reveal that in spite of the increased number of new environmental regulations the state of individual supervised entities (health institutions, pharmaceutical industry, cement works) has improved, particularly with regard to waste management. Progress has also been realised in the co-operation and co-ordination of the environmental inspection with other inspection services, and in case of incidents an interministerial action and communication procedure has been developed. Also work with stakeholders and citizens aimed at better information and opportunity of legal assistance with regard to the protection of their rights has been significantly improved. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

11 The environmental inspection pays particular attention to strengthening their capacities in branch units, through expert supervision and education of environmental inspectors, as well as to improving the overall inspection procedure by standardisation of the inspection's work and of the work of individual inspectors, and by implementing the planning and reporting methodology developed in the Recommendation providing for minimum criteria for environmental inspections (Recommendation 2001/331/EC- RMCEI). Improvement of environmental inspection procedures is also carried out within projects of international networks (IMPEL, BERCEN/ECENA, INECE etc.), as well as during work on strategic pre-accession MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

12 documents related to harmonisation and development of environmental legislation. Within PHARE 2005 development of documentation and other activities for the nomination and approval of the project on "Adaptation of the environmental inspection for implementation of the new national legislation" have been completed; beginning of fund utilisation under this project is foreseen in this year. The project objective is to improve environmental inspection through its structural strengthening, improvement of its level of equipment, permanent education and specialisation of inspectors. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

13 In the field of environmental protection financing or investment into infrastructure projects from domestic sources, significant progress has been achieved by the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, which started operation in 2004 and which provides additional funds for environmental protection that are realised through the collected environmental charges. Up to now the Fund has allocated a total of M EUR of grant funds for co-financing environmental projects, mostly for remediation of municipal waste landfills, and for projects on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. By initiating remediation of 166 municipal waste landfills, for which the Fund will allocate a total of M EUR of grant funds, significant advance in the field of waste management has been achieved in Croatia. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

14 In the period allocation by the Fund of the amount of M EUR is foreseen for various activities in the field of waste management. In order to establish new financing sources for environmental protection, introduction of new environmental charges has been continued, such as the new charge on packaging waste, and the charge on import of substances depleting the ozone layer. The introduction of a charge on CO 2 emissions is planned as well. The activity of the Croatian Environment Agency includes: environmental data analysis and interpretation to provide information to all state administrative bodies for the purpose of effective implementation of environmental policies; proactive participation in planning and developing MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

15 new forms of environmental protection; and monitoring the implementation of environmental action programmes and projects. Currently a priority commitment of the Agency consists in the preparation of a new Report on the State of the Environment of the Republic of Croatia, whose completion is planned for end of March The CARDS 2002 project Strengthening the Capacity of the Croatian Environment Agency contributes to strengthening its capacity to promote the system of monitoring of the state of the environment and of environmental reporting by adoption of EU standards and establishment of thematic centres. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

16 Due to its complexity, also in Croatia environmental protection has been recognised as one of the most demanding sectors in the process of adjustment to the acquis. I will mention only some of the activities of the Republic of Croatia in its relationship with the EU. The Stabilisation and Association Agreement of 2001 and the Framework Agreement of 2002 concluded with the EC with regard to the participation of the Republic of Croatia in European Community assistance programmes are the legal basis and framework regulating participation in CARDS, OBNOVA and PHARE assistance programmes. In June 2004, Croatia became a candidate country and pursuant to the Framework Agreement on the Participation of the Republic of Croatia in Community programmes the number of programmes open to Croatia increased. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

17 Currently Croatia is undergoing the screening stage, i.e. the analytical review of legislation conformity with 35 chapters of the European acquis. Therefore in all sectors of the environmental acquis further legal harmonisation is required, which is very demanding in terms of expertise and time lines. One of the most significant activities in this field consists in the development, begun already a year and a half ago, of the Strategy for EU Environmental Law Approximation carried out with support from the CARDS Programme. In the comprehensive activities carried out, the Republic of Croatia recognises the confirmation of its European perspective and its determination and capacity for reforms and fulfilment of criteria of the highest level. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

18 On the way towards the EU numerous tasks have been successfully completed, however, we are aware of the substantial commitments and work ahead of us, among which I would single out the following: New Environmental Protection Act, to regulate environmental protection in the Republic of Croatia completey in line with the EU regulations and respective international agreements; Implementation regulations under the Air Protection Act pursuant to Framework Dir. 96/62/EC on air quality assessment and management, to implement the remaining Directives in this field; Implementation regulations under the Waste Act pursuant to the Waste Dir. 75/442/EC, to transpose also the remaining MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

19 directives and to complete the process of harmonisation of Croatian waste regulations with the acquis; Public access to environmental information and public participation in the development of environmental plans and programmes will be brought in line with the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, and with Dir. 2003/4/EC and 2003/35/EC, with support from the project Implementation of requirements from the environmental acquis (legislation) with regard to access to environmental information and public participation in environmental permitting procedures, financed by the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment; MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

20 The EIA procedure for single projects will be brought in line with the Dir. 97/11/EC and 85/337/EEC; special attention will be paid to methodological advancement with support under the CARDS 2003 project Implementation of Guidelines and Training on EIA, whose implementation started in mid The EIA procedure for plans, programmes, strategies and legislation (strategic EIA) will be brought in line with the Dir. 2001/42/EC and the Protocol on Strategic Assessment of the UN Convention on EIA Procedure in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) signed in 2003, with support from the CARDS 2003 project EIA of Development Strategies, whose implementation is to start soon ; MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

21 Environmental permits for new and existing industrial companies will be brought in line with IPPC Dir. 96/61/EC, and accordingly also obligations will be stipulated on the introduction in these companies of the Environmental Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS), with support from CARDS 2002 project Strategy for EU Environmental Law Approximation, whose implementation started in June 2004; The field of emergency plans will be brought in line with the provisions of Dir. 96/82/EC (Seveso II); Environmental information management, environmental monitoring and reporting will be brought in line with the Reporting Dir. 91/692/EEC, The issue of liability for environmental damage with regard to environmental damage prevention and restoration will be brought in line with Dir. 2004/35/EC. THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

22 To conclude, I will say that Croatia, taking the European Commission Opinion on the Application of the Republic of Croatia for Membership of the European Union and the European Partnership as starting points, along with extensive preparations for the development of horizontal legislation and continuation of work at the transposition of the acqis - particularly in the field of waste management, water quality, air quality, nature conservation, and integrated pollution prevention and control – will ensure institutional strengthening of these sectors at all levels. Thereby also inspection supervision over the implementation of regulations will be promoted, which has been pointed out as one of the priority fields in these documents. THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

23 I expect that this meeting, judging by its abundant programme and thematic variety, will be significant and very useful to all its participants. Croatia has recognised the consistency and efforts of the ECENA network to enable member countries to improve their knowledge in the field of inspection control and environment, for which I express our recognition and appreciation. We will continue to provide all our support to this institution and we will also continue to be its very active members. MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

24 Thank you for your attention. I wish you successful work and I do hope that you will take along pleasant impressions of Croatia and Zagreb and return as dear guests. Thank you. THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION

25 THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, PHYSICAL PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION