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Screening starts for Chapter 27

Belgrade/Brussels, 16 September 2014

Head of the negotiating team for the negotiations on the accession of Serbia to the EU Tanja Miscevic said today that it will take a lot of effort and financial resources to harmonise environmental protection regulations in Serbia with the European standards.

Tanja Miscevic

Miscevic is in Brussels, where she attends the analytical screening for Chapter 27 on horizontal legislation, air quality, noise protection, waste management, chemicals, industrial pollution control, risk management and climate changes.

She said that this is a complex chapter relating to environmental protection and climate change and added that the screening on this topic will last five days instead of the usual two or three days.

There are a very large number of legal documents that need to be harmonised with the EU legislation, although it is not necessary to align everything before entering the Union, considering that it is possible to extend some deadlines, she said.

According to Miscevic, the Serbian delegation comprises many people from different ministries, while more than 300 people at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce follow the screening via tele-link.

In the next few years Serbia must invest €11.4 billion in the area of environmental protection, she noted.

The Serbian delegation is led by the state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Stana Bozovic, who heads the negotiating team.

Bozovic noted that the European integration process is a substantial priority for the Serbian government.

Bozovic said that she is confident that, in view of the complexity and the demanding nature of the Chapter, it is vital to strengthen institutional cooperation between the relevant authorities in Serbia and the EU.

Serbia is ready to step up the processes of alignment in the fields of the environment and strengthening administrative capabilities and systemic planning in the context of the upcoming accession talks in this field, she said.