The Federal Ministry for the Environment supports Romania in its reinforced efforts to implement European environment legislation as soon as possible. At the end of the 5 th meeting of the German -Romanian Environmental Steering Group in Bucharest, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for the Environment , Margareta Wolf, stressed the importance of the enlargement of the European Union to the East for the creation of a European Environment Union: "German industry should view the enlargement of the European Union as an opportunity to install German environment technologies and thus open up new markets in Central and Eastern Europe".
The EU enlargement, noted Mrs Wolf, offers the opportunity to safeguard the environment in Europe on a permanent basis and to strengthen European negotiating weight in international environment protection initiatives. It would, furthermore, also trigger economic impulses. In particular the areas of air quality management, waste water treatment and waste disposal leave room for enormous investments in the states of Central and Eastern Europe.
"German efforts in the introduction of ambitious frameworks and standards in waste management and the licensing of industrial installations can be an example for the countries of South-Eastern Europe," noted Margareta Wolf. Measures in this field are carried out by means of partnerships between German administrative units and Romanian government agencies within the framework of so-called "twinning" projects and with the support of funds from the advisory assistance programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment.
The discussions concentrated not only on topics of current environmental policy such as chemical safety and climate protection but also on further projects of cooperation between Romania and Germany. Romania was guaranteed additional support for the set-up of its environmental agency and its eight regional environmental authorities which will help to improve a speedy transposition of European environment regulations in other sectors as well.
Romania underlined its interest in a stronger cooperation in the areas of improved energy efficiency and renewable energies as well as in the protection of the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea.