Transcript REReP to RENA - Vision of the European Commission

REReP → RENA
Vision of the European Commission
Meeting of the REReP Task Force
Claude Rouam
Head of Unit “Enlargement and Neighbouring Countries”
DG Environment
European Commission
20 November 2008
Why a need for RENA?
—1999
Establishment of the Regional Environmental
Reconstruction Programme: REReP
Why? ‒ to improve the environmental situation in the
region in a post-conflict context
‒ to re-establish and facilitate an environmental
dialogue between the Western Balkan countries.
Since then,
The European political landscape has changed substantially.
‒ A future in the EU possible for all the Western
Balkans and Turkey.
‒ A need for further strengthening of the preaccession element in regional co-operation.
—2007
So?
The Commission proposes to replace REReP with
RENA: a new Regional Environmental Network for
Accession.
RENA
the launch of the process
 On 11 June 2007, Ministers for Environment from
Candidate Countries, potential Candidates,
Bulgaria and Romania:
 welcomed the initiative to establish RENA
 expressed readiness to engage in activities aiming at
exchange of information and experience related to
preparation for accession
 asked the Commission to provide a Road Map from the
present regional cooperation undertaken through REReP
towards the new Regional Environmental Network for
Accession (RENA)
RENA – the draft Road Map
 RENA will:
 facilitate exchange of experience and best
practice
 help to jointly tackle environmental challenges
 provide a forum for the European Commission
to communicate to the whole region
 be a supplement to bilateral co-operation
between the Commission and the countries
 take into account the different stages of the
countries regarding environmental acquis in
the pre-accession process
RENA – the components
Ministerial
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•An ad hoc
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Secretariat of
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thematic
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WG 1 Strategic Planning &
Investments
 Strategic planning of the approximation process has proved
to be one of the biggest challenges for the countries aiming
for EU membership
 The environmental acquis with around 300 legal
instruments requires substantial effort as regards:
 transposition – planning of what to do when
 implementation and enforcement – avoiding overlapping
competencies and inadequate administrative capacities
 financing – avoiding inefficient spending of scarce financial
resources due to lack of coordination, absence of proper
financing strategies, insufficient preparation of projects etc.
 All of this is to prevent “bad” transposition requiring a
number of consequent amendments and sometimes
resulting in infringement procedures once the country
becomes a Member State
 Specific capacity building/information exchange activities
suggested in the model work plan
WG 2 Climate Change
 Climate change represents a fundamental challenge to
human health and well-being, environment and economy
 Climate change is recognized as an important component
of sustainable development and poverty eradication in
the region
 Climate change considerations need to be factored into
the development of key economic sectors in order to
protect the environment and facilitate partnership and
cooperation between these countries
 The WG on Climate Change intends to
 keep the countries fully aware of Climate change policy
developments
 Prepare countries to address these challenges and
implement EU Climate Change requirements once
members
 Specific activities suggested in the model work plan
(creation of inventories, development of strategies,
establishment of ETSs, etc.)
 Particular attention will be given to adaptation and
mitigation
WG 3 Cross-Border Cooperation
 A large number of areas could qualify as relevant in a crossborder context. It has been decided - in the first instance to focus on:
 Nature Protection including Natura 2000 preparations in a
transboundary context
 Water Management in a transboundary context , including
the Water Framework directive
 Public participation in relation to the above areas as well as
general requirements on Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA) and the implementation of the Aarhus Convention
 Where regional, sub-regional or bilateral agreements and
co-operation already exist, the activities covered by RENA
will be selected in order to supplement these activities
 Capacity building/information exchange activities suggested
in the model work plan
WG 4 Implementation and
Enforcement
 ECENA was established by high-level officials from SEE
countries in 2005
 Aim to exchange best practices on implementation and
enforcement of environmental law
 Inclusion of ECENA in RENA will allow the work on
implementation and enforcement to be more closely linked
with other pre-accession tasks
 The work of the ECENA WG need to be coordinated
carefully with that of WG 1 (Strategic Planning):
 WG 4 - mainly inspectorate bodies a local level
 WG 1 - overall national planning of inspection activities
 Capacity building/information exchange activities suggested
in the model work plan
RENA stakeholders
RENA
focal point
Neighbouring EU
Member States
Participation open to:
are- invited
to participate as
Albania,
will be invited
to declare
their
observers,
in
order
to
share
- Bosnia
and
Herzegovina,
will interest
be
invited
to participate
asthe
to
participate
in
experience
from
their
recent
Selected
environmental
willtobe
- Croatia,
observers,
whenNGOs
relevant
RENA
activities
under
the
Other EU
pre-accession
process
involved
to
establish
a
closer
co- remit
the former
Yugoslav
their
proposed
Working
Groups
Member States
operation between
civil
society
and
Republic of Macedonia,
decision makers
in the
region
- Kosovo
under
UNSCR
1244,
- Montenegro,
- Serbia and
IFIs,
- Turkey
Bilateral Donors,
Environmental
International
NGOs
organisations
RENA - Financing
 Financing through the IPA multi-beneficiary

programme
Tentative planning
 IPA 2008: 2,9 million €
 IPA 2009: 3 million €
 Certain activities will only be started in 2010 –
but most in 2009 (as these are currently covered
by on-going EU project)
 The split between activities is indicative and will
be further fine-tuned, taking into account
relevant developments, before the launch
of the 1st tender
Next Steps…..
 Discussion at REReP meeting
 Countries to consolidate their positions and



provide comments in writing to the Commission
before 1 January 2009
COM to finalise the RENA road map before March
2009
Ministerial meeting to endorse the RENA road
map/mandates for the working groups –
spring/early summer 2009
Launch of RENA – target date - September 2009
Thank you very much for your
attention.