he inaugural conference of the project "EU for better environment - Development of a framework for harmonization with EU legislation in the field of air, chemicals and horizontal issues (EAS3)", funded by the European Union with two million euros from pre-accession funds (IPA 2014), was held today in Belgrade.
The main topic of the conference was the presentation of the status of Serbia in the process of preparations for negotiations in the areas covered by the negotiating chapter 27 (environment and climate change).
Representatives of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the main beneficiary of the project, spoke about Serbia's experience in the field of air protection and in the field of chemicals. Representatives of the Republic Geodetic Authority presented the experience of Serbia in relation to the INSPIRE directive (on infrastructure for spatial information in Europe), and the experiences of EU member states - the Czech Republic and France - in implementing the relevant acquis communautaire. Members of the team of the project "EU for a better environment" presented the goals, planned activities and expected results of the two-year project, which lasts until January 2021.
The "EU for Better Environment" project should help Serbia take measures to improve air quality, then measures to regulate the production, placing on the market and use of chemicals and biocides, with the aim of protecting the environment and human health, as well as taking measures to establish specific environmental data in Serbia, through which citizens will be provided with unhindered access to environmental information. The documents created during the work will also help Serbia's negotiators in the process of negotiations with the European Union to prepare a well-argued negotiating position for Serbia.
The overall objective of the project is to achieve an improved strategic policy, legal and institutional framework in the field of environmental protection and priority directives from the acquis communautaire in the air, chemicals and horizontal environmental issues. The project is designed to support, enhance and strengthen the Ministry of Environment and Negotiating Group 27, with the aim of achieving effective governance in the implementation of transposed EU regulations, and in preparing and supporting negotiations for Chapter 27 on the environment. In this way, the project continues to provide technical support to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other stakeholders in the preparation of strategic, planning and programming documents that represent requirements in the process of approximation and negotiations on accession to the European Union.
In the previous two projects (IPA 2007 - NEAS, IPA 2013 - EAS2) the following documents were prepared: National Approximation Strategy in the Field of Environmental Protection 2011-2019 (NEAS), Action Plan for the Development of Administrative Capacities (APACD), eight specific implementation plans , in the investment sense of "difficult" directives, (Directive Specific Implementation Plans - DSIP) in the field of water and waste management, and the Multi-annual Investment and Financial Plan.
The EU project for a better environment (EAS3 / IPA2014) provides support to Serbia in the implementation of the National Approximation Strategy in the field of environmental protection in three other sectors: air protection, chemical management and horizontal issues of establishing a system of geo-oriented environmental metadata in Serbia (INSPIRE).
The project includes the development of a National Air Protection Strategy (Program) with the relevant Action Plan, the development of eight specific plans for the implementation of 6 separate directives and 2 regulations (DSIP / RSIP), five of which relate to the air protection sector, one to the INSPIRE directive, and two a specific plan for the implementation of regulations in the field of chemicals management. The multi-annual investment and financial plan, developed within the EAS2 project, will be improved and updated with financial data from the new planning documents.
The EU project for a better environment - Development of a framework for harmonization with EU legislation in the field of air, chemicals and horizontal issues (EAS3) is funded by EU funds, managed by the Ministry of Finance - Department for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programmes (CFCU).
