German-Bulgarian Environment Commission meets in Sofia
The Federal Environment Ministry will continue to support Bulgaria in implementing EU environmental legislation. This was confirmed by the Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Environment Ministry, Ms Astrid Klug, today on the occasion of the 7th meeting of the German-Bulgarian Environment Commission in Sofia. Ms Klug went on to say: "The practical implementation of EU environmental legislation is one of the great challenges facing Bulgaria in the coming years. It has to establish effective and competent environmental administrations, both on the central and the regional level, that are capable of applying the various laws."
Astrid Klug, who chairs the Environment Commission together with the Bulgarian Vice Environment Minister Atanas Kostadinov, pointed out that the German involvement in the so-called twinning projects has had very positive effects. Germany has participated in 13 twinning projects in the environmental sphere in Bulgaria since 1998. At present two such projects are underway, one on the implementation of the mining waste directive and another one in the area of waste electrical and electronic equipment. In the framework of these EU funded twinning projects, staff members of EU member state administrations are dispatched to their counterpart authorities in accession or applicant countries. The goal is to support these countries in their endeavours to harmonise their legislation and to set up the necessary institutions. Bulgaria, like Romania, joined the EU on 1 January 2007.
In addition to the transposition of EU environmental laws, the talks in Sofia centre on questions of bilateral cooperation. At present three projects receive funds from the Advising Assistance Programme of the Federal Environment Ministry: one in the area of water management, one in the field of flood protection and a third one on detergents. Funding by the Federal Environment Ministry for these projects totals 228,000 euros. Parliamentary State Secretary Astrid Klug stressed Germany's interest in further bilateral and transboundary projects.