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Billions
for Sustainability? Lessons learned from the use of pre-accessions funds Review by Kristina Vilimaite Published by CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe, November 2002, 102 pages. From 2000 to 2006 the European Union is expected to provide financial support for accession countries of approximately EUR 3 billion a year. These funds will attract other funding from national budgets and such sources as the European Investment Bank. The investments will cause profound changes in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe, and obviously will have a significant impact on the environment through projects dealing with infrastructure, energy, nature conservation and agriculture. This report, available online, explains how they are currently being spent in CEE countries and includes case studies. The findings are summarised in three topical areas: the environment, public participation and the ability of national institutions to handle the aid in a transparent and democratic manner. The case studies show that although the EU calls for the integration of environmental principles into all areas of work, fund structures often encourage unnecessarily large projects and favour "end-of-the-pipe" solutions such as land-fills over more proactive approaches such as recycling and waste reduction. The recommendations given in the report are meant to improve both the environment and the democratic process in the candidate countries. They can guide decision makers in the EU and in candidate countries on how to spend structural and cohesion funds funds more effectively, wisely and transparently in the post-accession era. Books reviewed in this column can be found in the REC online library catalogue at: http://www.rec.org/library-catalogue Stacks online The REC has the largest collection anywhere of English language publications about the environment of Central and Eastern Europe. For more than 10 years the library staff has served environmental stakeholders and the public at large by providing them with fast, free and professional access to environmental information about the region. The library holds approximately 4,000 books and 5,000 pieces of grey literature as well as periodicals, videos and CD-ROMs on such environmental sub-topics as state-of-environment assessment, EU accession and compliance with EU acquis, education, environmental management, policy, legislation and sustainable development technologies. Last year the online catalogue was substantially improved. It is accessible at www.rec.org/library-catalogue. A new user-friendly interface allows for searches by title, author, keyword or free text and a recently launched service allows users to receive copies of the table of contents of selected books by fax or post. Further improvements of the services are planned, including online access to the full text of environmental laws in Central and Eastern European countries. All such documents are in English.. |
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