Within the next two to three decades, Serbia will have to invest some EUR15 billion in environmental protection, Minister of Environmental Protection Goran Trivan said and added that within that period, Serbia could reach all EU environmental standards.
At the opening of the conference “On the path to the EU and healthy environment: Challenges of eco-funding in local communities” Minister said that Serbia was allocating 0.2 per cent of the GDP for environmental protection, noting that allocations should be ten times higher. He announced that he would meet with officials from all local self-governments in Serbia to address the issue of unreasonable environmental spending. “By the end of the year, local self-governments will have to think about this and come up with a plan,” Trivan said and added that the goal was to invest money from the Green Fund in green projects.
Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sem Fabrizi said that greater engagement of local self-governments in the decision-making system was a way to increase efficiency of the work done in the area of environmental protection.
Fabrizi said he hoped Serbia would soon open chapter 27 (environmental protection), noting that the country has made progress in the field of ecology.
Head of Serbia’s negotiating team Tanja Miscevic pointed to importance of engaging citizens in discussions about the environment as it concerned each and every one of us.
President of the Steering Committee of the European Policy Centre Srdjan Majstorovic said that chapter 27 was technically the most demanding and expensive one.
“Environmental protection is a highly complex area. Technically speaking, chapter 27 will be the most demanding one, knowing that the environment accounts for a third of the EU acquis,” Majstorovic said. According to him, this chapter is very expensive but on the other hand, an investment in environmental protection should never be seen as a cost, but rather as an investment in economy, health and preservation of the environment. Majstorivic said that a Centre’s survey showed that local self-governments have considerable room for improvement in terms of rules, regulations and spending of money aimed at environmental protection. Deputy Ambassador of Sweden Joachim Waern said that the Government of Sweden put environmental protection at the top of its priorities which is why Sweden’s representatives help Serbia to apply for EU funding. Serbia should put more focus on wastewater treatment, waste management and dealing with illegal landfills and some 3,000 landslides.
