Coalition 27 presented a new Shadow Report in which, among other things, it analyzed financial investments for the environment in the period from the opening of Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU from 2014 to 2023. Are we closer or further away from the EU today and how much have we progressed as a country from 2014 to today?
This year’s Report is entitled Years pass, we standbecause it is also the rating that Coalition 27 gives to progress in Chapter 27: Environment and Climate Change during the previous decade. The novelty of this year’s Shadow Report is that, in addition to dealing with key events in the area of the environment and climate change, it also provides an answer to the question of how much Serbia has invested in environmental protection since the opening of negotiations?
During the first panel discussion members of Coalition 27 provided answers to questions about what was happening in Serbia significantly in harmonizing with EU legislation in chapter 27 and developing the legal framework that governs climate change, horizontal legislation, air quality, chemicals, water management, forestry, nature protection, noise and waste management. A long panel was devoted to investments in environmental protection in the period 2014-2023: A little money, a little music. In the National Strategy for approximation in the field of environment for the Republic of Serbia from 2011, it was estimated that we will need about 10.6 billion euros by 2030 for full alignment with EU standards.
Analysis shows that in the previous decade, the state invested in the environment only about 30 percent of the funds it planned to invest in the National Strategy of the Republic of Serbia for Approximation (NEAS) in the field of environmental protection, and only 20 percent in infrastructure investments. This is far below the level of investment required to achieve significant environmental progress.
Coalition 27 also emphasizes that this document was adopted in 2011, and that it is a fairly conservative assessment of financial investments, and the data in recent strategies and plans confirm that the final amount is much higher. In the field of water management, for example, less than 10 percent of the planned amount was invested to improve water quality. In other areas of environmental protection, such as waste management, there are real costs and investments, but not enough capital expenditures, which is why Serbia, despite significant costs, is still not even close to establishing an efficient waste management system based on the principles of circular economy. Let’s also take into account that the amount collected in the name of environmental compensation, according to data from the draft document of the Environmental Protection Strategy (September 2024), amounts to 3.9 percent of GDP, while the amount that Serbia invests in environmental protection from In 2021, it is about one percent of GDP per year, the members of the Coalition of 27 stated.
They also remind that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has not yet established an operational Green Fund to finance reforms in environmental protection, although it has long been pointed out that Chapter 27 is one of the most financially demanding. Also, this is one of the basic recommendations of the European Commission, which is repeated in its reports for Serbia. The Environmental Protection Fund was established in 2009, as an institution responsible for generating revenue from environmental taxes and fees and investing them in environmental improvement projects. This institutionalized the “polluter pays” principle, as the bond companies directly paid fees to the Fund’s budget, from where the funds were channeled into projects through tenders. Since 2012, the Environmental Protection Fund ceases to be valid, the environmental tax then becomes a revenue of the republic budget, and from 2021 the Green Fund no longer exists either as an independent institution or as a budget fund. This greatly reduced transparency and made it impossible to monitor how the state spends the funds collected on this basis.
In order for the public, in reality, to be able to influence decision-making processes related to the environment – in addition to solving the problems of closed institutions, non-transparent processes and the adoption and amendment of existing laws, support and an open relationship with civil society in Serbia. In this regard, the Coalition does not share the optimism of the European Commission Report for Serbia for the year 2024, and believes that Serbia has made progress in many areas – unrealistic and unfair. Our country should also significantly strengthen administrative capacities in the environmental protection sector at all levels of government, including inspections and judicial authorities.
Also, Coalition 27 calls again for the adoption of the recommendations mentioned in the new Shadow Report, which refer to the areas of air quality, water, forests, management of chemicals, waste, nature protection, noise, industrial pollution, and horizontal legislation in this area. They provide clear overviews of the current situation, the strategic and legislative framework, as well as the implementation of regulations in practice.
As an answer to the question of whether we are closer to the EU or moving away from such a goal, without a strategic approach, clear ambitions and investments in them, modest progress is sometimes just tapping in place, especially if we consider that as much as a third of the total EU legislation that the candidate countries must first apply, refers to Chapter 27. In addition to the obvious lack of political will and (non) involvement of the professional public, probably the main culprit for such disappointing results is that financial investments in the environment in this period, despite ambitious plans, however, remained at a constant low level.
Shadow report Years pass, we stand covers the period from April 2023 to April 2024 and contains detailed recommendations for each area of Chapter 27. You can download the report HERE.
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Source: energetskiportal.rs
