INTERVIEW - Croatia Steps Up Environmental Drive for EU Entry
Date: 24-Aug-06
Country: CROATIA
Author: Zoran Radosavljevic
"Of course, we do not have that kind of money but I think we can get considerable amounts from the EU pre-accession funds, if we put forward good projects," said Vinko Mladineo, who heads the Environment Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Croatia's top state body for environmental issues.
Zagreb opened EU membership talks last year, hoping to join around 2010 and has already started to introduce green measures to cut back on packaging waste and illegal dumping.
But environmental concerns, sustainable use of natural resources or renewable energy were almost unknown in communist Yugoslavia, from which Croatia gained independence in 1991.
The country has some 250 legal waste dump sites, including nine for toxic wastes, but also almost 4,000 illegal sites. In the past, many Croats used to simply dump old cars, fridges or washing machines in the woods or by the roadside.
The costs of environmental issues, together with agriculture and state subsidies, are deemed among the most demanding negotiation areas in talks with the EU.
"We must admit that Croatia is below EU environmental standards, but we are making really big strides to catch up. We are investing a lot and changing the people's awareness of the environment," Mladineo told Reuters.
A comparison of EU and Croatian environment legislation was done in Brussels in May and Mladineo said he was confident the talks would go smoothly.
"After the screening, we estimate Croatia will need between 10 and 11 billion euros (US$14.11 billion) to fully reach EU standards ... But I am confident that the environment will cause no glitches in the negotiations," Mladineo said, adding that the environment protection law already complied with EU norms.
"I believe we can reach EU standards around 2015. We are already environmental leaders in the region and, most importantly, have made people and companies aware of what is harmful for the environment," he said.
Efforts are already being made to bring the country up to speed environmentally.
"Croatia is the third richest European country in natural water resources and good quality water will soon become our most valuable resource," Mladineo said.
Buyers of new cars, for example, will soon pay an extra fee, which will finance authorised car collectors who will dispose of their cars when they are no longer useable.
Most of the legal dumps would be closed or modernised to separate recyclable waste by the end of this decade, he said.
A major step forward was a drive to improve collection of packaging waste, under which citizens get 0.5 kuna (US$0.087) for every used glass or plastic bottles or tin can they bring back to a supermarket.
"We have already overtaken the highly developed EU countries like Sweden or Switzerland, which were our model. We collect more than 80 percent of packaging waste, which puts us at the top of the list. True, there is some financial gain involved, but it shows how people's minds have changed," Mladineo said.