The environment is becoming the number one topic in Serbia
A new report highlights areas to be improved in the country’s environmental policy.
Coalition 27 concentrates civic organizations thst monitor the progress of reforms envisaged by the EU's negotiating Chapter 27, environment and climate change. For the last eight years Coalition 27 has been issuing “shadow reports” that has been analyzing the situation in 10 environmental areas in Serbia like nature protection; forestry; air quality; water quality; climate change etc.
This year’s report "Chapter 27 in Serbia: Progress under lock and key" emphasizes the lack of participation from citizens, professionals and the civil sector in the environmental decision-making process. "Citizens have come out of quarantine, the environment has finally become a public issue in Serbia, but institutions have remained closed," concluded the presentation of the eighth annual Shadow Report of Coalition 27.
The latest report of the European Commission on Serbia's EU accession progress Serbia Report 2021 (europa.eu), assessed the progress in the field of environmental protection as limited. Over the years, Serbia has received relatively good marks for the degree of harmonization of legislation governing the field of environment with the acquis communautaire, with which Coalition 27 has never fully agreed.
The Program Manager for Environment and Climate Change at the EU Delegation to Serbia, Antoine Avignon, explained that the lack of communication between decision makers and citizens contributes to this limited progress, which this report emphasizes. "In the coming period, we are facing important regional processes such as the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, which can be a significant meeting place for all stakeholders and change in this field, to which the Government of the Republic of Serbia is committed," he reminded.
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What else is happening? Here’s the weekly rundown.
We at the Budapest-Belgrade LAN team publish newsflashes for you every Friday afternoon. These are quick, digestible, to-the-point briefings about all the latest developments in the Serbian and Hungarian agro sectors.
Today we bring you:
In the latest Hungary Newsflash you can read about updates regarding the country’s CAP National strategic plan, the Agriculture Chamber’s concerns about the Farm to Fork strategy, wine production issues and 3D printable plant-based plastic research.
In this week’s Serbia Newsflash, you can find out more about the multiannual production decline of the food industry, new regulations on public land usage, mass arrests for subsidy embezzlement, digitalization in public service and updates for the new EU financial cycle and what it will mean for Serbian grants.