Subject: POLITICAL INITIATIVES OF THE TRANSNATION RADICAL PARTY
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(9) POLITICAL INITIATIVES OF THE TRANSNATION RADICAL PARTY
by Emma Bonino, Secretary of the Radical Party
Sofia, 15-18 July 1993, Radical Party General Council
(9) Environment
Campaign for the protection of the environment and for ecologically
sustainable development in Central and Eastern Europe.
Summary: The question of the environment has become an essential element of
any political programme, both for the developed countries and for the less
developed and poorer areas of the world. It is now no longer the time for
"oasis" environmentalism, for the protection of particular areas or of
animal species threatened with extinction. The question of the environment
must be incorporated into strategies for international development,
democracy, security and co-operation as an indispensable keystone and
pivot. The question of the environment has an increasingly global and
supernational character, requiring strong international laws and new forms
of security between peoples. With regard to the countries of the ex-Soviet
bloc, we have a number of projects whose implications are of great
interest. These projects form a fully-fledged programme for "sustainable
development", and also aim to curb national conflicts by encouraging the
peoples of the Balkans (and not only them) to create supernational
Institutions and laying down solid foundations for the process of
integration and co-operation between Eastern and Western Europe.
Three projects are considered:
1) In the countries of Eastern Europe there are at least thirty nuclear
power stations which do not conform to minimum safety requirements and
which are technologically outdated, so much so that they also hold back
economic development. Two initiatives have been drawn up on this issue: a)
the promotion of national energy plans which give priority to the
achievement of satisfactory levels of efficiency, directing international
programmes of financial and technological co-operation to this purpose; b)
the closure of the most dangerous nuclear power stations within the
framework of international co-operation programmes. Their closure will also
be requested by means of referendums and other popular initiatives.
2) Campaign for the institution of a European Great Rivers and Waterways
Community, that is a supernational Authority to run the enormous waterway
system centred on the Danube, both from a financial and an environmental
point of view. Through the Main, the Rhine, and the connected terminals,
this waterway system already links nine countries from the North Sea to the
Black Sea, but it could be extended to include France, Italy, Slovenia,
Croatia, and also Russia in the future.
This is the most serious and important project concerning the countries of
the ex-Soviet bloc, a global project which would centre on the safeguard
and the growth of one of the most important ecosystems in Europe and would
revolutionize the trade and the entire economy of the whole continent, also
renewing contact and civil and cultural relations between its peoples. The
project can only be realized if the financial plan is supported by
supernational institutions and management instruments, by the institition,
that is, of an Authority with supernational powers which would radically
update the current, inadequate Convention regarding navigation on the
Danube.
We will have to draw up bills and resolutions on the issue to present to
the European Parliament and to national parliaments, with a long-term
programme of initiatives to back the project.
Campaign for the right to information.
Related to the previous point, but of wider relevance, is the conquest of
the right of access to information on the environment. The recognition of
this right would radically improve relations between the citizen and the
public administrations, and would also lead to more modern and efficient
administration procedures.
There are two proposals:
1) the presentation of bills in the various parliaments for the recognition
of the right of access to information held by the public administration;
2) parliamentary resolutions, popular petitions, pressure on the EEC and on
governments for the creation of a common pan-European computer network for
information on the environment and on consumers. Proposals for research
activities etc., and an international seminar to study concrete
possibilities for the promotion of the computer network.
---------------------------------
1. PREMISE
1.1. The events of the last twenty years have made the question of the
environment an essential element of any political programme. This is true
within each country in the limited area of the developed world; but it is
also gradually beginning to involve the less developed and even the poorest
areas of the world.
It is not a matter, however, of adding a "green appendix" to policies which
continue to take a traditional direction. In short, the "oasis philosophy",
that is merely the protection of areas and species, is no longer
sufficient. The question of the environment must now be incorporated into
strategies for international development, democracy, security and
co-operation, and must become the keystone or the pivot of these
strategies.
The opposition between environment and development, which characterized the
initial phases of the environmentalist movements, dominated at the time by
primitive ideologies and exclusive concern with the problems of the
developed world, now no longer exists. The Rio de Janeiro Conference marked
the end of this opposition and, with the elaboration of the concept of
"ecologically sustainable development", brought out the need for a new
approach.
By its very nature, the question of the environment is global and
supernational: it crosses boundaries, limits the powers of individual
states, is linked to the development of civil and political rights,
requires strong international laws, and radically updates the concept and
the practice of security between peoples. In short, it opens up a
perspective of enormous importance. There is, however, a serious lack of
suitable political actions and instruments. For all these reasons, it would
seem to be an ideal area for the intervention of a transnational political
force.
1.2. Centred around a number of important environmental questions, the
programme of initiatives for the countries of the ex-Soviet bloc has many
implications of great interest.
Above all, it forms a fully-fledged programme of ecologically sustainable
development in that it aims to create the conditions for a reversal of the
economic disaster inherited from the regimes of the past. An increase in
the efficiency of energy plans, the development of a continental transport
network based on the Danube-Rhine axis, the creation of a pan-European
computer network for the exchange of information: the objectives contained
in the programme are the essential requirements for a realistic prospect of
economic development.
Secondly, the programme aims to curb national conflicts by encouraging the
creation of supernational institutions, and lays solid long-term
foundations for the process of integration and co-operation between Eastern
and Western Europe.
Finally, through initiatives regarding the right to information and to the
transparency of public administration, along the lines of the US Freedom of
Information Act, it aims to contribute to the development of advanced
democracy and of an open, rather than conflictual, relationship between
institutions and citizens.
The programme is formed of three campaign projects.
2. CAMPAIGN FOR EFFICIENT ENERGY NETWORKS AND FOR THE CLOSURE OF DANGEROUS
NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS
2.1. From the point of view of energy - the basic resource of the economy -
the countries of Eastern Europe are faced with two serious problems which
prevent economic development and keep the local populations (and also the
international community) in a situation of unacceptable risk.
On one hand, there are at least thirty nuclear power stations which fall
below minimum safety standards, and which must be closed as soon as
possible to avoid a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster. We must also bear in
mind the risks of attacks or bombing in the wake of conflicts and wars (the
Krsko nuclear power station in Slovenia, for example).
On the other hand, the technologies and the uses of energy are incredibly
outdated, a situation which requires urgent initiatives for the promotion
of greater efficiency in the production and use of energy. We need only
look at the statistics regarding energy intensity (the ratio between energy
consumption and gross national product), which in the countries of Eastern
Europe are higher than the EEC average by a factor that ranges from 1.5 to
more than 2. Without drastic intervention, these countries will have to
spend enormous amounts of valuable currency on energy supplies, thus
preventing development. Not to mention the destructive impact on the
environment and on the health of the people.
2.2. In this framework, we have drawn up two initiatives to be developed at
the same time. One aims to promote the launching of national energy plans
that give priority to the achievement of satisfactory levels of efficiency,
and to direct international programmes for financial and technological
co-operation to this end. To achieve this aim we must use the appropriate
instruments within the relevant national parliaments and the European
Parliament, as well as forms of pressure on international organizations
such as the EEC and the G-7. There are also plans for popular petitions,
seminars and training courses with the participation of scientific bodies
and commercial companies.
The second line of initiatives aims to bring about the closure of the most
dangerous nuclear power stations in the ambit of the programmes of
international co-operation. The question also has implications in the field
of international treaties and institutions, of the links between civilian
and military uses of nuclear technology (Eurotom, Treaty of
Non-Proliferation), and of co-operation between East and West.
Our action will be based primarily on popular referendums, in conjunction
with the instruments of parliamentary intervention available.
The campaign has a wide target: parliamentarians, scientists, public
administrators, research bodies, and commercial companies as well as the
environmentalist groups and the general public.
3. CAMPAIGN FOR THE INSTITUTION OF A EUROPEAN GREAT RIVERS AND WATERWAYS
COMMUNITY
3.1. The aim of this campaign is the institution of a European Great Rivers
and Waterways Community, that is to say a supernational Authority with
responsibility for running the gigantic waterway system centred on the
Danube, from a financial and an environmental point of view. This is a
top-priority aim which can become the pivot of the policies of economic
development, environmental protection, and civil and political progress in
the whole of Central and Eastern Europe.
The Danube is the main axis of a waterway system which, from 1992, through
links with the Main and the Rhine, already crosses or runs along the
borders of nine countries: Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary,
Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Ukraine (with Rotterdam on the North Sea
and the Danube estuary on the Black Sea as terminals). This navigable axis
considerably reduces (by more than 2,500 kilometres) the ocean shipping
routes, from Rotterdam to the Suez Canal. There are short-term and mid-term
plans for extensions which would involve France, Italy, Slovenia, and
Croatia; whilst in the long-term there are plans for a link with the great
Russian waterway, which already links the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea,
crossing the whole of Russia from north to south.
This is the most serious and important project regarding the countries of
the ex-Soviet bloc. The creation of a unified and integrated transport
system in Central and Eastern Europe would, in fact, revolutionize the
trade and economy of the whole continent, providing the ex-Communist
countries with enormous opportunities for development and for integration
with the Western countries.
3.2. However, it will be impossible to achieve this aim if the economic
plan is not supported by supernational institutions and instruments for
running the waterway system; it is not difficult to predict that the
continuation of rivalries between states will cause conflicts and crises
that will be difficult to control. The same problem will exist for the
protection of the environment.
So far, in the construction of this enormous transport system,
environmental questions have been neglected or entirely overlooked, which
has caused irreparable damage to the environment and the landscape; the
future development of traffic and productive activities will bring even
greater risks.
The natural environment surrounding much of the waterway system is amongst
the most beautiful in Europe, with many unique ecosystems and important
historical sites. Without supernational instruments and policies for their
safeguard, the increase in river transport will cause the gradual pollution
of surface and strata waters along the entire bed of the waterways as far
as the outlets to the sea. This is added to by atmospheric pollution which,
through rainfall, filters into the land, pollutes the underground strata
and partly flows into the rivers. Finally, there is the question of solid
and liquid waste, from industrial, agricultural or urban sources, which is
already very worrying.
These problems can only be tackled and solved through the creation of an
Authority with supernational powers. The latest proof is the controversy
which has broken out between Hungary and Slovakia over the construction of
a dam on the Danube, on the border between the two countries, for the
Galcicovo hydro-electric power station (Slovakia).
It is therefore necessary to take this opportunity, which is not likely to
occur again in Europe, to put into practice the new cultural and political
approaches solemnly ratified at the Rio de Janeiro Conference, approaches
based on the safeguard of the environment, ecologically sustainable
development, and the respect of cultural differences and of the civil
rights of populations.
3.3. An international Convention regulating navigation on the Danube is
currently in force. It was signed in Belgrade in August 1948 by the Soviet
Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and
Yugoslavia; the events of the last few years have undermined it, and a new
form of agreement is now essential. It should also be noted that navigation
on the Danube has been subject to an international statute for about one
hundred and fifty years, and that every important historical change has
brought about a renegotiation of this statute: the last time this happened,
in 1948, the Soviet Union was the dominant force.
(From the study by Prof. Politi: The "object" of the Belgrade Convention
is substantially limited to the discipline of navigation on the Danube and
the execution of hydro-engineering works to facilitate river traffic. In
other words there is a lack, within the regime laid down by the Convention
itself, of a body of rules specifically adressed to the protection of the
environment along the Danube by means of the instruments of control (of the
activities carried out on the river and on the territory of the countries
on its banks) which are typical of the subsequent development of
international law (I refer, above all, to such well-known mechanisms as
information and consultation between states, public access to information
regarding the protection of the environment, the evaluation of
environmental impact, and the continuous monitoring of pollution levels).
Consequently, the duties of the Commission established in accordance with
article 5 of Special Administrations referred to in articles 20 and 21 are
also restricted to the control of navigation and of closely related
activities. The safeguard of the environment is therefore only indirectly a
part of the activities carried out by these bodies (and as the result, for
example, of any regulations or decisions issued with regard to dam-building
work or health inspections of the boats which use the river).
It is therefore evident, in my opinion, that the rules laid down by the
Belgrade Convention are inadequate and unable to meet the need for correct
and fair economic utilization and for adequate environmental safeguard of
the waterway system which centres on the Danube. Especially in the light of
the possibility of extending the system and linking it to other basins such
as those of the Main and the Rhine, it is necessary to consider the
possibility of a radical revision of international legislation on the
subject of the utilization and safeguard of the Danube system and of
connected systems. This objective would be best achieved through a new
international treaty (adhered to by all the European countries potentially
involved) rather than through the mechanism of an additional protocol to
the existing convention. The use of the latter mechanism could, in fact,
raise particularly delicate problems, not only in terms of the geographical
area of application (which would risk being circumscribed to the Danube
basin), but also in terms of the participation of States, which should - at
least in principle - be limited to the parties of the Belgrade Convention
and the relative "successor" States.
The aim of our campaign is, therefore, to achieve the institution of a
European Great Rivers and Waterways Community, along the lines of the
European Coal and Steel Community, and to make this body, as happened with
the ECSC, the driving force behind a process of economic and political
integration of Eastern Europe.
To this end, bills and resolutions will be drawn up for presentation in
national parliaments and in the European Parliament, and a long-term
programme of initiatives in support of the campaign will be realized:
popular petitions, international meetings and demonstrations, and the
publication of studies and reports.
4. CAMPAIGN FOR THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION
4.1. The recognition of the right of public access to information on the
environment, consumers and public administration is the foundation of a
society of free, equal and jointly responsible people. The end of
administrative secret - the ancient secret of princes, that is the
privilege of hiding from the eyes of the subjects - represents a cultural
and political advance with respect to the regimes of the past, and lays the
foundations for the true democratization of institutions and of society.
Only in this way is it possible to hope for rational collective decisions
based on information.
For the ex-Communist countries, the recognition of this right would have
profoundly innovative effects and would also be a guarantee for the future.
It is, in fact, a means to improve relations between public administrations
and citizens, making the decisions of bureaucratic institutions both
transparent and controllable. At the same time, it serves to make
administration more modern and efficient. Finally, we should not
underestimate the importance of the right to information for the
development of environmental policies and for the responsible intervention
of citizens and movements in the control of pollution. From this point of
view, the possibility of having access to information in the possession of
public administrations would be an enormous help in our campaigns on energy
and on the Danube.
The right to information is most fully consecrated in the United States
(the Freedom of Information Act) and is recognized to greater or lesser
extents in the other Western countries: the European Community has issued a
directive on the subject. In Italy, a campaign has been conducted in recent
years by the Friends of the Earth, with important results: in 1986 the
right of access to information on the environment was fully recognized by
the law, and since then more general innovations have been introduced with
regard to the administrative procedures and the regulations of local
governments. The experience of all those countries which have legislation
on the subject has underlined the need for effective action for the
development of adequate data bases, for their validation and distribution,
with positive effects on the public institutions in general and on the
investments themselves.
4.2. The campaign has two main objectives:
a) the presentation in national parliaments of bills for the recognition of
the right of access to information held by the public administration;
b) parliamentary resolutions, popular petitions, and pressure on the EEC
and on national governments, for the creation of a pan-European data base
network on the environment and consumers.
In support of these activities, we are planning adequately publicized
sample surveys on the availability of information on the environment in the
various countries involved. We are also planning research groups to examine
national legislations and to draw up bills; and an international seminar,
with the participation of parliamentarians, scientific bodies, commercial
companies and NGOs, to discuss concrete ways of promoting the telematic
network.
(more)
