In this special report the Italian Special Fund presents the major conclusions and themes from the Trieste High Level Workshop. Full texts from the workshop are available at www.rec.org/REC/Programs/ITF/Trieste.html. Photo: MTI CLEAN-UP COST: EU environmental requirements exact heavy tolls on industries in the accession states. Masterfood Hungary invested HUF 170 million for a new air-quality control facility in their pet food factory in Csongrad. Minding the environment while also building the economy poses the most important challenge of the sustainable development of the enlarged European Union, agreed high-level delegates at a recent EU workshop. Senior experts from the EU and accession countries met for the session in Trieste, Italy from July 7-8 to analyse environmental challenges of accession and recommend solutions. Delegates were asked to describe a vision that was both European and global. According to Corrado Clini, director general of Italy's Ministry for Environment and Territory, Europe is becoming the world's leading economic zone, one that is being forged by an integration of different cultures and economies. The challenge it faces, therefore, is without precedent, and will make Europe an example for developed countries and for the new and large emerging economies of Asia, Latin America and Africa that are trying to reconcile environmental preservation and development, Clini said. The workshop was the first event of the environment programme of the EU Italian presidency. The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe supported its preparation. Photo: PAVEL ANTONOV CORRADO CLINI: Official promises EU presidency is committed to the environment. Europe's environmental ministries need to convince decision makers in other policy areas that the environment is not the problem but an integral part of the solution, delegates concluded. The European Commission, in cooperation with the presidencies and the member states, in preparing its upcoming spring report, should ensure that the environment is considered on an equal footing with the two other pillars of sustainable development, social and economic development. In its communication on the union's sustainable development strategy, the EU pledged to perform a full-scale review every five years at the beginning of term of each new commission. It will be the responsibility of the member states to define the scope of these reports. In the environmental field, the communication states, the EU should concentrate on implementation successes, lessons learned and connections with other main policy processes (e.g., the Lisbon process). The further development and promotion of the Cardiff process is crucial for strengthening the environmental dimension of the Lisbon strategy, Trieste delegates agreed. Nevertheless, they said much remained to be done to integrate the environmental dimension into the Lisbon strategy and ensure a more effective integration and balance between the pillars of sustainable development.

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