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EU Enlargement and its Implications for the Environment. Pollutec 10 November 2004 Margareta Stubenrauch margareta.stubenrauch@lebensministerium.at. Enlargement. 1 May 2004 : Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia join the EU
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EU Enlargement and its Implications for the Environment Pollutec 10 November 2004 Margareta Stubenrauch margareta.stubenrauch@lebensministerium.at
Enlargement • 1 May 2004: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia join the EU • 1 January 2007: Envisaged accession date for Bulgaria and Romania • June 2003: Environmental chapter provisionally closed with Bulgaria • November 2004: Environmental chapter with Romania still open • 2005: Negotiations with Croatia will start, Turkey to be decided at the EU-Summit in December 2004 • March 2004: Macedonia put forward application to the EU
Accession Negotiations • Adoption of the EU legislation was a pre-condition for accession • Approximately 200 pieces of legislation covering water, air, waste, nature protection, GMOs, noise, radiation protection and industrial pollution constituted the environmental chapter • About 100 individual pieces of legislation, mainly on chemicals were negotiated within the chapter free movement of goods. • An appropriate justification, the small number, their short duration, accompanied by interim targets and specific implementation plans were required to obtain transitional periods
„Difficult“ Pieces of Legislation • Urban Waste Water Treatment: all accession countries • Packaging Waste: all countries with the exception of Estonia • Large Combustion Plants: all countries with the exception of Latvia and Slovenia • Justification: high investment costs, time needed to implement the investments
Implementation Costs (Quelle: Mitteilung der Europäische Kommission „Die Finanzierung des Umweltschutzes in den Bewerberländern“ KOM(2001) 304 endgültig )
Clean Air Improved Water Quality Better Waste Management An Economic Area with Harmonised Environmental Standards Opportunities for Austrian companies No Environmental Dumping Improvement of the Quality of Life More Biodiversity Nuclear Safety More Weight in International Environmental Negotiations Environment and Enlargement- Ten positive Arguments