Will the improvement in Serbia happen only after we resolve the dilemma of whether we should erect a monument to the Chetnik leader and quisling Dragoljub Draža Mihailović in the center of Belgrade and at the same time evict Tito from the House of Flowers?
The proposals of 18 NGOs that were submitted ahead of the update of the Green Agenda this year, aim to increase the focus of the initiative, the transparency, and the results of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. This was communicated by the Bankwatch Network for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE Bankwatch Network). Some of the proposals include a request to review the voluntary nature of the Green Agenda and to require the governments to publicly commit to specific actions.
NGOs called on the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), which is the main regional partner in the coordination of the Green Agenda, to break down the action plan into time-bound steps and to clearly state who is responsible for the implementation of those steps, including basic information that will enable effective monitoring of the progress.
The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, launched by the European Commission in October 2020, is the main initiative that encourages the governments of the region to use EU funding for decarbonization, pollution reduction, circular economy, sustainable rural development, and protection of biodiversity.
CEE Bankwatch communicated that four years after it was launched and three years since the Western Balkan leaders adopted the Action Plan 2021-2030 in October 2021, the lack of a clear structure, timeline, and targeted reporting are things that continue to prevent the civil society from exercising effective oversight.
The proposals were supported, inter alia, by the Climate Action Network (CAN Europe), Belgrade Open School, and Resource Centers for Environment from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.
The Green Agenda for the Western Balkans will be the topic of the ministerial meeting at the Berlin Process on October 8th.
Why criticism?
The Republic of Serbia is one of the signatories of the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans. The document was adopted at the Western Balkans Summit in Sofia on November 10th, 2020, as part of the Berlin Process initiative. In short, this six-pager includes the aspirations and desires of the leaders of the Western Balkan countries, who agreed that the region should move faster towards the European Union by focusing attention on resolving environmental issues. It is divided into five pillars that relate to future development:
- Climate, energy, mobility
- Circular economy
- Reducing pollution
- Sustainable agriculture and food production
- Biodiversity
The agreement and the signing of this Declaration were only the first steps, after which it was necessary to establish various mechanisms, improve the cross-sectoral management, and support the integration of the green, low-carbon transition by reforming the public administration, the public finance management, the economic reform program and ensure mobilization of own resources.
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It is difficult to say with certainty which of the above-mentioned things have been implemented in Serbia. The green agenda has a hard time breaking through to the public and the agenda of the relevant authorities due to the (perpetually) trending topics - elections, Kosovo, Tito and Draža, rehabilitation of war criminals, the reintroduction of mandatory military service, protests by educators and farmers...
Europe keeps track
Instead of vague reports from government authorities that should be the institutions taking care of this work, such as the Ministry of European Integration, Serbia's (lack of) progress in this matter is visible from each annual report published by the European Commission.
The negotiating chapters for Serbia are organized in clusters, and this particular one (Cluster 4) was opened in December 2021 as Serbia fulfilled the Action Plan on oil reserves and the Action Plan on separation of the activities in the gas sector.
The latest report for 2023 reminds again, like in each of the previous reports, that the Cluster on Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity is at the heart of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, and that it is closely related to the Program of Economic Reforms of Serbia and with the Economic and Investment Plan of the Commission.
"Some progress has been achieved, especially in the Trans-European networks, where Serbia has advanced in the improvement of its infrastructure, with the progressing of works related to construction of the gas interconnector between Serbia and Bulgaria, as well as in the area of climate change, with the adoption of the Low Carbon Development Strategy 2023-2030", says the EU report.
There was no significant progress in this cluster because the Report for 2022 points out that "in principle, limited progress has been achieved" and Serbia was called to focus on better prioritization in terms of investments, planning, and management in all areas in the upcoming period.
In 2022 the EU said it expects continuation of the railway's reform and improvement of the strategic transport framework in line with EU and Western Balkan strategies for sustainable and smart mobility; urgent implementation of the Action Plan for separation of activities in the gas sector and further diversification of gas routes and gas supply to reduce the dependence from Russia; adoption of an ambitious national energy and climate plan that is in line with the objective for zero emissions envisaged in European Green Deal for 2050 as well as greater efforts in the implementation and application of regulations related to environment and climate change, especially in terms of environmental impact assessment, waste management, air and water quality, cross-border cooperation and law enforcement by inspection authorities.
One year before that, in the Report for 2021, the EU assessed that Serbia met the criteria for opening the chapter on energy:
"The country has made progress in the area of road safety and railway reform. It also adopted a Law on Climate, as well as a package of main energy laws, including new laws on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency".
The situation on the ground
In addition to the EU, Coalition 27, founded by civil society organizations in 2014 to monitor and contribute to the negotiations related to Chapter 27 - environment and climate change (now Cluster 4), also focused the spotlight on the Green Agenda.
Their "Coalition 27 Shadow Reports" track progress in these areas, and the most recent (tenth) report from 2023 is "Green agenda without an agenda".
It is warned, inter alia, that the real problems of all citizens of Serbia in the field of environmental protection have been ignored, including the recommendations provided by the European Commission.
"The quality of the air we breathe, the (non)availability of clean drinking water, the endangerment of natural habitats and species, the spread of illegal dumpsites are all consequences of the missed deadlines for implementation of the EU legislation in Chapter 27. The government is sending us an unequivocal message – it is not sufficiently committed to changes, to the detriment of all citizens, and the environment continues to be non-priority issue for the government", says the report.
The coalition also warns that the public does not receive all the necessary information to be able to effectively participate in the decision-making process. This makes the processes "non-transparent and often contrary to the needs of the public", especially in situations when public hearings are held during holidays or in a period of vacations.
One of the important objections refers to non-compliance with the deadlines for adoption of documents, many of which have expired.
"Either we do not know how we are progressing, or we know that we are late with the adoption of documents such as the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, the Environmental Protection Strategy with Action Plan, the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, the Law on Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment, the Law on Water and the Energy Development Strategies – we are still waiting for their publication", the Coalition warns.
Coalition 27 warned that the amendment of the Budget for 2023 reduced the total budget of the Ministry of Environmental Protection by 4 billion dinars, that is 18.34 billion dinars were planned and 14.13 billion were allocated.
It seems that some progress has been noted at least in this regard, because the budget of the Ministry of Environmental Protection for this year is projected at 18.5 billion dinars, but with the amendment adopted on September 30, it was increased to 21.69 billion in which 6.49 billion was allocated under the Green Agenda item. However, there are no details on what are these funds earmarked for.
Coalition 27 identified many issues that are still not remedied - from air quality to waste management, and the same goes for other areas such as environmental protection from noise, water management, forests, and nature. None of them are on the priority list of institutions, which is why progress is very slow.
Coalition 27 warns that the increase in allocations for the international exhibition EXPO 2027 in 2024, according to current plans, will cost 0.4% of the GDP, which practically means that "that amount is greater than both Serbia's investments in the field of environmental protection and the investments in the field of education".
Green fund
Coalition 27 mentions that, due to the lack of ambition for more serious reforms and the delay in the finalization of reforms, and because of the lack of adequate funding, the progress is slow and uncoordinated.
One of the major problems is that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has not yet established an operational Green Fund to finance environmental protection reforms, even though year after year, this was one of the core recommendations of the European Commission.
It is worth noting that the Green Fund used to exist but in a burst of populism when the Serbian Progressive Party came to power, it was abolished and was only formally but not actually restarted. Law on the Validity of the Law on Environmental Protection Fund was adopted in September 2012, only four months after the SNS party came to power. According to this law, which has four articles, the rights and obligations of the Fund were assumed by the Republic of Serbia, while the environmental tax became budget revenue.
At the end of 2016, the Government of Serbia adopted a Decision on the establishment of Green Fund of the Republic of Serbia which started with operation in 2017.
This document states that "the Fund is established to register the funding intended to finance the preparation, implementation, and development of programs, projects and other activities in the field of conservation, sustainable use, protection and improvement of the environment". This Fund had money from 2017 to 2020, only to be empty again in 2021. The situation with this year's budget is the same – there’s no Green Fund.
Drought, landfills, pollution
Drought and extremely high temperatures, which are major environmental concerns, caused additional problems throughout Serbia in the form of fires at landfills, and this caused additional air pollution in many cities in the country. In Novi Sad, the regional landfill was on fire in April, the same happened at the end of August when the area near the landfill burned for almost ten days. The landfills were burning twice in Kraljevo, followed by Užice, Kikinda, Subotica, Sjenica, Smederevo... Unfortunately, this is not only because of the drought - according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1,760 landfill fires were recorded in Serbia in 2022!
At the same time, trains carrying dangerous chemicals derailed on several occasions - in February near Ruma when phosphoric acid was involved, in April and July near Zaječar with cars carrying sulfuric acid, in June near Bor also with sulfuric acid, and in August near Šabac with empty cistern cars. Environmental impact studies are avoided in large projects that can potentially cause pollution, and the relevant authorities do not sanction such practices.
These days, the heating season should start and according to expert estimates, at least 70,000 people have died in Serbia since 2015 directly as a result of polluted air, because, in addition to low-quality coal, they privately use everything that burns for heating purposes, motor oil, and various waste. There are countless examples of that, and it remains to be seen whether the appeal of the non-governmental sector will bear fruit and whether the situation will change after the ministerial meeting on October 8th.
Or the improvement in Serbia will happen only after we resolve the dilemma of whether we should erect a monument to the Chetnik leader and quisling Dragoljub Draža Mihailović in the center of Belgrade and at the same time evict Tito from the House of Flowers.
