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[Press release] Polish government’s environmental disregard risks EU backlash
 © Ryszard Czaraszkiewiecz |
As part of its EU accession agreement, Poland accepted the obligation to develop its part of the European network of naturally valuable sites - known as NATURA 2000 [2] - but Polish campaigners believe that the government’s proposals could result in the European Commission imposing financial penalties on Poland for breaching its accession commitments.
The Polish Minister for Regional Development, Grażyna Gęsicka, recently revealed governmental plans to replace the existing 11 Sectoral Operational Programmes that have been prepared by the Polish authorities with six new programmes: Infrastructure, Human Capital, Competitiveness and innovation, Trans-border cooperation, Development of eastern regions and Technical assistance. Environmental infrastructure investments such as wastewater treatment and waste management, which are planned to come under the separate Sectoral Operational Programme (SOP) Environment, could now be transferred to SOP Infrastructure. Such a move throws doubt on the future of activities in the environmental area such as nature protection that are not based on large infrastructure projects.
This latest ghettoising of the environment in Poland follows on from Polish Ministry of Environment calculations that EUR 1.5 billion will be necessary in the next programming period in order to make the Natura 2000 network operational. However, as it is the SOP Environment allocates as little as EUR 0.5 billion for all activities in the area of nature protection and environmental education, a range of activities that involves a lot more than just the implementation of the NATURA 2000 network. Yet even these scarce resources may be lost if the proposed new operational programmes do not give sufficient consideration to nature conservation needs.
Andrzej Guła, of the Institute of Environmental Economics/CEE Bankwatch Network and responsible for EU funds monitoring in Poland, said: “If the necessary funds for nature conservation are not secured, Poland will not be able to fulfil its obligations towards the EU regarding the implementation of the NATURA 2000 network. No transition periods have been agreed, therefore the network ought to start operating within the next few years, certainly before the end of the next programming period for the EU funds in 2013. If Poland does not secure proper financial resources for nature conservation now it is very likely that it will have problems complying with the requirements of the EU directives in time.”
For more information, contact:
Andrzej Guła
Institute of Environmental Economics/CEE Bankwatch Network
Tel: +48 12 631 90 80
Email: biuro at iee.org.pl
Marta Wiśniewska
WWF Poland
Tel: +48 22 8498469
Email: mwisniewska at wwf.pl
Magda Stoczkiewicz
CEE Bankwatch Network (Brussels)
Tel: + 32-2-542 01 85
Email: magdas at bankwatch.org
Notes for editors:
1. The Coalition of Polish Environmental NGOs on EU Funds was established in 2004 as a response to the need for the control of the utilisation of EU funds and the impact of these funds on the natural environment. The Coalition comprises four environmental non-governmental organisations: Institute of Environmental Economics, Institute for Sustainable Development, WWF Poland and the Polish Green Network.
View the Coalition’s letter to the European Commission.
2. The Polish government has already submitted over 250 NATURA 2000 sites to the European Commission for approval. Polish environmental NGOs believe that a further 230 sites should be included in the network and it is likely that 180 will be accepted.
CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.