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COMMUNITY AGENCIES: PARTRNERS IN ACCESSION Lisbon, 25-27 November 2009 EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY and CROATIAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY PARTNERS IN ACCESSION Rene Vukelić, CEA, Head of International Cooperation Sector contents Introduction Country facts – CROATIA CEA-Croatian Environment Agency -position of CEA in state environmental administration -major activities -collaboration with EEA – European Environment Agency EEA assistance - experiences and prospectives Experiences of technical assistance so far Main challenges for cooperation and how to solve them introduction Croatia – country facts Independent country: from 1991 Location: Middle-European, Mediterranean Country Population: 4,4 mil. inhabitants Capital: Zagreb, (800.000 inhabitants) Counties: 21 Surface: 56 600 km2 (croissant feature) Coastline: 6 000 km / 1 200 islands (47 inhabited) Highest peak: Mt Dinara - 1 831 m GDP per capita in 2008: 10 675 EUR introduction CEA- Croatian Environment Agency: Environmental administration, main activities ●Ministry of Environment acts as an “umbrella” institution ●Six ministries directly addressed to deal with different environmental issues ●Four further ministries and seven authorized agencies and institutions included on certain levels of environmental policy Croatian Environment Agency was established in June 2002 by Governmental regulation, as a public institution under umbrella of Ministry of Environment. According to Environmental Act its main obligations are: ● Establishing of Environment Information System - EIS, registers & data bases (collecting and integration of environmental data on national level, their processing, and maintaining) ●Environmental Reporting on national level and according to International reporting obligations ●Providing public accessibility of environmental data & public communication introduction Cooperation with European Environment Agency–EEA From 2004 -2009 : CARDS 2004-2006 / CARDS 2007-2008 enabled our participation in EIONET, meaning: ● data exchange, data delivery to CDR (reaching the latest PDF- Priority Dana Flow score, with 70% , which is close to EU average) ● participation on the NFP level – NFP/EIONET meetings ● participation on the NRC level - thematic workshops ● participation in EEA projects , recently SEIS and SOER 2010 EEA ASSISTANCE experiences and prospectives Experiences of technical assistance Benefits related to accession process - in broader context -Implementation of Environmenal Legislation - on good course (EU Environmental Acquis - almost fully transponed, opening/closing of chapter 27 – Environment feasible in December 2009) - Building of Administrative Capacity significant efforts done, but still needs further strengthening - Education and Practical Skills adoption continuing ( tematic workshops, EEA/ETC, TAIEX, etc) EEA ASSISTANCE experiences and prospectives Experiences of technical assistance Benefits related to CEA –more specific context SEIS -SEIS country visit /WB workshop – exchange of experience, prospectives…………..; TAIEX workshop - implementation of SEIS -CEIS, Croatian Environment Information System- compatible to the principles of SEIS (Marine Portal developed by CEA, see http://www.izor.hr/azo/ and national network on air quality http://zrak.mzopu.hr/ -CEIS is legally regulated (Regulation on CEIS) -CEIS implementation program, approved by authorized Ministry - EEA ASSISTANCE experiences and prospectives Experiences of technical assistance Benefits related to CEA -specific context SOER 2010 National Report on the State of Environment Sharing experiences with other countries through an open consulation proces: assessment rewieving proposing measures Contribution to the idea of Europ concerted national environmental efforts Challenges Main challenges for cooperation We do not see any serious obstacle, current and future, in the ways of communication between EEA and CEA Financial resources The new IPA Project, starting in March 2010 will ensure cooperation for the period 2009-2011, but being realistic, we do not expect “charitable” national budgeting, which is going to have significant influence on our work. Adminisrtative Capacity There are some encouraging signs conclusions CONCLUSIONS Complete harmonization with EU reporting standards is feasible considering the fact that further efforts in implementation of national environmental legislation will be needed with considerable EEA support through projects and further improving of overal communication, as well as use of other available EU funding mechanisms Thank you for your attention [email protected] www.azo.hr