Brussels, 23/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - With a few months to go until its EU accession (planned for 1 July 2013), Croatia is still failing to reach Community level standards on the environment, according to the WWF and other environmental NGOs. On Monday 22 October, these NGOs therefore made an appeal to the Croatian environment minister, Mihael Zmajlovic, to put a stop to projects to transfer stretches of rivers into canals. NGOs base their appeal on the comprehensive progress report published by the European Commission on Croatia's level of preparation (see EUROPE 10708). This reveals significant shortcomings in the implementation of environmental legislation and particularly the insufficient quality of environmental impact assessments of certain projects and programmes, contrary to demands laid down in Directive 85/337/EEC (the so-called EIA directive).
Arno Mohl, an expert at the WWF stated: “It is evident that according to the EC these environmentally damaging regulation projects should never have been approved by the Croatian Ministry of Environment. We therefore urge Minister Mihael Zmajlovic to stop them right away”.
These low quality impact assessments have led to the Croatian environment minister approving five controversial projects (two others are waiting to be approved) which the NGOs - the WWF and EuroNature - and Croatian NGOs have continually criticised for threatening to transform 500 km of natural rivers into canals.
The NGOs are particularly concerned by a highly controversial project awaiting a decision, which focuses on a 53 km stretch of the Danube along the Croatian and Serbian border zone, and the regulation regarding the confluence of the Drava and Mura rivers in the Croatian and Hungarian border area, which includes wetlands and floodplain forests that are among the biggest and best protected in Europe.
The progress report underlines the fact that the impact assessments were of an “insufficient quality” and recommends that they be significantly improved - observations that reflect the criticism already made by the NGOs, the latter emphasise. (AN/transl.fl)