Newsletter no. 1, February-September 2019

Dear Reader / Dear EPPA Follower,

Welcome to EPPA’s first newsletter and thank you for joining us! We are delighted to publish the first EPPA Newsletter covering period from February to September 2019. EPPA is a three-year project, which seeks to be a major driver of reform and development in environmental governance through compliance with the EU environmental acquis. From now on we will be issuing an edition twice a year to provide an overview of EPPA activities and related initiatives.

In this first issue you will be able to  find out more about the the project activities in the follwing areas:

è Cross cutting issues 

è Waste management 

è Water management

è Air quality

è Nature protection

Kick-off meeting 

February 14th, 2019

The project kick-off meeting was organized on February 14th, 2019 at the premises of DG Environment in Brussels with the participation of the European Commission representatives, project team (including all key experts team) and consortium representatives.

The agenda of the meeting covered the following main issues which were discussed between participants:

- Technical aspects of project implementation in all components
- Legal, contractual and financial issues
- Management and organizational issues
- Co-operation with TAIEX

Inception missions and National Focal Points nominations 

March-June, 2019

In the period March-June 2019, four inception missions took place with the participation of the project Team Leader, with the focus on the following beneficiaries: Serbia, Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo. The aim of the missions was to present and introduce the EPPA project approach and methodology as well as conduct in depth discussions about the need and priorities toward alignment with EU environmental legislation. 

Furthermore, in reply to the EC request the beneficiaries nominated the National Focal Points as well as National Coordinators for each of the project Working Group.

First Project Steering Committee Meeting

June 25, 2019

The first Steering Committee Meeting took place on June 25, 2019, in the premises of the European Commission. All beneficiaries were represented, in addition to other key partners for the project, namely the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Regional Cooperation Council.

The meeting was chaired by Mr. Davor Percan (Head of Unit, Bilateral, Regional and International Relations, DG Environment, European Commission) and co-chaired by Ms. Madalina Ivanica (Coordinator Enlargement Sector, Bilateral, Regional and International Relations, DG Environment, European Commission). The meeting took place in the wake of the inception period. The Steering Committee reviewed the start-up activities of the EPPA Project, which resulted in the endorsement of the project’s work plan and of the calendar of events for year one. The Committee also approved the Inception Report covering the inception period from February 13 to April 13, 2019. In addition, representatives of the European Commission provided an update on the latest EU policy and legislative developments in environmental field.

Compliance checks

July-August 2019

The team prepared the first compliance check report on request from the Commission. It was on the Serbian draft on water intended for human consumption, with the requirements of the Council Directive 98/83/EC, Directive 2003/40/EC and the Directive 2009/54/EC.

Involvement of the national Civil Society Organisations 

July-September 2019

The project team engaged a Senior Non-Key Expert to lead the CSO project component. The Expert revived the most relevant national environmental CSOs in cooperation with European Union Delegations and prepared the methodology for the component implementation. The representatives of relevant CSOs took part in the first TAIEX-EPPA workshops in Split and Montenegro.  

Upcoming events:

February 4-5, 2020, North Macedonia 

Sub-regional workshops on environmental priorities as envisaged by the 7th/8th Environmental Action Plan (EAP)

EPPA national consultations on waste management

June-September 2019

The project team launched the activity 2.1 - Assistance for the implementation of roadmaps for improving waste management. The objective of this activity is to assist beneficiaries in improving waste management taking as the reference the roadmaps developed under the project South-East Europe Waste Assessment (SEEWA). The results of the activity will be prepared through national consultations during which the priority issues and actions will be identified. The first consultation meetings took place on September 16-17, 2019 in Serbia and September 18-20, 2019 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The following topics are being covered during the consultations: priority issues, priority actions from the roadmaps, identification of stakeholders that should take responsibility for the actions, capacity needs assessment and the capacity development responses, including the incoming EPPA workshops.

Upcoming consultations:

October 7-11, 2019: Mission to Albania and Montenegro

November 11-15, 2019: Mission to Kosovo and North Macedonia 

January 2020: Mission to Turkey

The 8th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR)

June 2019

Within the framework of the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission and the Danube Transnational Program jointly organized the 8th annual EUSDR Forum on 27-28 June 2019 in Bucharest (Parliament Palace). Participation of two attendees from Montenegro and Serbia was supported by the EPPA project.

The 8th Annual Forum was held under the motto: "Building cohesion for a shared prosperity in the Danube Region", covering topics of particular importance for the Danube Region. The program took place in a series of parallel thematic sessions, focusing on connectivity, competitiveness and regional mobility, as well as the links between macro-regional strategy and cohesion, as well as the potential for creating synergies that could result in better involvement of EUSDR in the future programs and policies of the EU.

TAIEX EPPA Regional Workshop on Managing Marine Litter in Split
September 11-12, 2019

The regional workshop on Managing Marine Litter in EPPA Countries – Challenges, Approaches, Developments took place in Split, Croatia, on September 11-12, 2019. The workshop was organized in cooperation with TAIEX.

The workshop’s main outputs were:

- Joint statement showing the beneficiaries commitment to the problem of marine litter and proposing concrete regional cooperation steps to address it
- Enhanced understanding of the topic, policy and legislation, challenges and current practices related to marine litter
- Exchange of experiences within the beneficiary region and between the beneficiary region and EU Member states improved
- Cooperation between the beneficiaries strengthened for marine litter issues and
- Better capacity to deal with the requirements of the current EU acquis dealing with marine litter, especially the MSFD.

Upcoming events:

October 15-16, 2019, North Macedonia 
Regional workshop on building coherence and synergy in the implementation of MSFD and WFD: Water management issues facing land-locked EPPA Countries - October 15-16, 2019 in North Macedonia.

December 5-6, 2019, Montenegro
National workshop on managing marine litter and support to the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive - December 5-6, 2019.

Mission to Albania related to air emission pollution inventory
June 17-20, 2019

Ms. Traute Köther from the Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt) travelled to Albania on June 17-20, 2019 for a four-day mission. The assistance contributed to the estimation of air emission pollutant for the main sources in the sectors of energy, agriculture and waste; it prepared (modification for Albanian needs) and applied excel based calculation tools, including linkage to reporting tables; and, finally, corrected notation keys in reporting templates.

TAIEX EPPA Workshop on Ambient Air Quality Directive
September 24-25, 2019

The Regional Workshop on the Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) took place in Montenegro, on September 24-25, 2019. The aim of the workshop was to increase the knowledge of the AAQD and its implementation. More specifically, the workshop gave an overview of the basic elements of the directive (AQ assessment, AQ management, AQ plans, information and reporting), enabled sharing experiences between the countries regarding current implementation of the directive, capacities needed, and existing plans and programmes for the full transposition and implementation of the directive. Finally, it also gave examples of EU Member States implementation of best practices on all of the directives elements. 

The participants represented the beneficiary region hydrometeorological institutes, environmental protection agencies, ministries of environment (departments/units for air quality), and laboratories dealing with air quality. Civil society was represented by the NGO Green Home from Montenegro. The speakers brought a wide variety of experience from EU member states, including Austria, Croatia, Finland, and Poland, in addition to EU bodies like the European Environmental Agency and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (JRC). 

Upcoming events:

November 19-20, 2019, Turkey
Regional workshop on Industrial Emissions Directive.

January 16-17, 2020, Austria
Regional workshop on the implementation of the National Emissions Ceilings (NEC) Directive. 

Launching of nature component studies 
June-September 2019

The EPPA Team engaged the relevant Senior Non-Key Experts to lead the important studies under the project nature component:

- Study containing an analysis of green infrastructure deployment and ecological connectivity status in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia; Mr. Ventzislav Vassilev,
- Study developing initial proposals for establishment of new marine protected areas in the Adriatic Sea Basin (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro); Mr. Evangelos Papathanasiou,
- Study on trends in timber trade in the beneficiaries and between beneficiaries and the EU; Ms. Jasmina Bjegovic,
- Study on existing administrative and legislative aspects related to forest management and mechanism to ensure legality and traceability of timber and mapping  of relevant stakeholders; Ms. Jasmina Bjegovic.

The approach and the methodology of the studies have been thoroughly discussed and consulted with the EC to allow smooth development during the coming months.

Upcoming events:

November 19, 2019, Belgium
Regional workshop on biodiversity in the Western Balkans and Turkey 

January 23-24, 2020, Montenegro
Regional workshop on CITES implementation

February 20-21, 2020, Albania
Regional workshop on managing illegal timber for private sector

This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of NIRAS IC Sp. z o.o. and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.