Having met regularly in the past at various international events, it was only recently that the heads of international departments and approximation units of Ministries of the Environment from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia discovered a new quality - informal collaboration.

  In the past, collaboration among the ten CEE countries which signed the Association Agreements with the EU was irregular. Some thought that differences between them were too great to enable effective collaboration while others simply perceived the accession process as a competitive race.

  Exercising its role as a regional organization, the REC invited representatives from each country to attend an informal meeting, held May 23-24 in Szentendre, Hungary, to discuss common issues related to accession. Talks began with short presentations on developments in the accession process by each country, followed by informal, facilitated or free discussions and brainstorming sessions.

  "This was a big step forwards in mutual collaboration within the EU accession process," said Romanian Secretary of State Janos Botond Kiss. As a result, the participants launched a program, to be managed by the REC, of informal cooperation geared to help develop proposals for solving common problems, strengthen positions in the negotiation process with the EU, secure adequate funding for environmental accession investments, and prepare for international meetings.

  Participants agreed that future meetings would be held bi-annually, with the next "coordination meeting" held in early September 1997, focusing on the upcoming meeting with European Community Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard. Supplementary expert meetings will cover topics including the international climate change convention, costing of environmental approximation, and integrated pollution prevention control, water and air directives. Other activities will include information screening and dissemination, aimed at improving information flows and awareness raising.

  "The main achievement of this meeting was to begin to change the previous atmosphere where the countries were racing and waiting for leadership from the EU," says Jernej Stritih, Executive Director for the REC.