A3-0230/94

Resolution on the environmental situation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Baltic States and Georgia

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Collins, Mrs Schleicher, Mr Iversen and Mr Amendola on the environmental situation in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Baltic States and Georgia (B3-1398/93),

-having regard its opinion of 14 July 1993 on the proposal for a regulation concerning the provision of technical assistance to economic reform and recovery in the independent States of the former USSR and Mongolia,

-having regard to its resolution of 17 September 1993 on the pollution of Lake Baikal,

-having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A3-0230/94),

A.aware that Russia and the CIS States have inherited huge environmental problems including nuclear waste dumping, chemical contamination, natural resource depletion, ill-conceived water management and irrigation plans, resulting in risks to public health which had been ignored by the centrally-planned economy of the Former Soviet Union (FSU),

B.aware that these problems are continuing and are likely to become worse with the further economic development being planned. Also the present absence of a chain of command allowing for the irresponsible behaviour which is devastating for example, the forests of Siberia resulting both in a loss of biodiversity and a reduction in the forest's capacity as an absorber of CO2,

C.aware of the problems of dumping of nuclear waste and decommissioned nuclear vessels in the waters of the FSU which are now starting to affect international waters,

D.aware that the FSU and its regions lack proper legislative and institutional frameworks for the development of environmental strategies,

E.believes that the economic development of the FSU must take into account environmental concerns as a prerequisite for the success of its economic policy,

F.believes also that the strengthening of non-governmental organisations in the FSU is an important precondition for the emergence of a true civil society in the democratic process,

G.aware that part of the scientific Community of the FSU is beginning to be eroded as disillusionment about the effectiveness of aid from the West prompts them to seek financial rewards elsewhere in the world,

H.deplores the fact that the TACIS programme operated from 1991 to 1993 with no environmental dimension, even though this is a specific requirement of the Treaty of Rome and also the Treaty on European Union operating since November 1993,

I.recognizes with satisfaction the fact that the new TACIS Regulation, valid until 1995, has now an environmental dimension, nevertheless recognizing that despite the limitations placed upon it by the Member States, the TACIS Programme has managed to dedicate 20 % of its 1993 regional programme to the environment, and hoping that this positive trend will be maintained and strengthened,

J.regretting the fact that both EU Member States and the CIS recipient states do not understand the link of interdependence between economic reform and environmental protection and thus seeing a vital role for the Commission to take the lead on this issue,

K.aware that after several debates and resolutions in the European Parliament, Sir Leon Brittan has now committed the Commission to including an environmental dimension in the TACIS Regulation agreed in 1993,

L.whereas the TACIS Programme has enabled the members of the former Russian Parliament, associated in Globe Russia, to work efficiently on environmental matters and hopes that this will continue in the new Duma,

M.whereas there has been a regrettable dilution of the environmental priority in the EBRD, both at the organization and project levels,

1.Asks the Commission to acknowledge the importance of the principle of sustainable growth outside the Union as well as inside, especially in its economic assistance programmes such as TACIS, which should be used as an opportunity to promote environmentally sound economic development and the least use of resources;

2.Calls on the Commission and Council to exclude any negotiation with Ukraine on trade in nuclear products,

3.Asks the Commission to put into practice its commitment to set up a comprehensive training programme to raise the environmental awareness of civil servants involved in TACIS, both in terms of the environmental situation in the FSU and the environmental consequences of unsustainable economic practices;

4.Demands that the Commission subject all the relevant projects in the TACIS programme to environmental audits, and that new projects and projects in the pipeline are subjected to impartial environmental impact assessments before being granted;

5.Calls on the Commission to ensure that selection of companies which reply to calls for tenders under the TACIS programme is conditional on their applying the environmental standards in force in the Community in the countries concerned by the programme;

6.Calls for cooperation with the Republics of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to be continued and strengthened with a view to improving aid to and medical supervision of the victims of the Chernobyl accident;

7.Calls also for adequate resources to be made available to enable independent studies to be carried out on cancer of the thyroid in children and, more generally, to monitor the effects of the low doses of radiation to which the people of these countries are subjected;

8.Asks the Commission to ensure that environmental pilot projects, such as looking at pollution which threatens to undermine further the natural resource base of the FSU in areas such as Lake Baikal, the Siberian forests, and the Aral Sea, Black Sea and Caspian Sea, to name just a few, are included in the programmes agreed with the CIS national co-ordination units;

9.Asks the Commission to assist the legislative and executive branches of power within the FSU in order to help them put into place a comprehensive legal and administrative framework for environmental management;

10.Asks that the Commission to take into consideration the urgent need to reverse the current trend towards a "brain drain" of scientists from the FSU, namely in the environmental field, since this pool of expertise is badly needed within the FSU countries themselves to assist the economic recovery process;

11.Calls on the European Community to use its power to ensure that research projects to be carried out by the International Science and Technology Centre (ISTC) are selected on the basis of the contribution they will make to improving the quality of the environment and the wellbeing of the people;

12.asks the Commission to support the work of environmental and other NGOs, universities and institutes working on environmental issues within the FSU countries so that these organisations can be in a better position to develop their own capabilities in these relatively new areas for them;

13.asks the Commission when approving projects to promote the participation of local institutions and experts with environmental competence within the FSU countries;

14.asks the Commission to ensure that all the programmes and facilities it currently operates, such as Government Advice, Legislative Advice, Twinning, Cofinancing, TEMPUS, Seminars, BISTRO, Senior Executive Service, be extended and include a clear environmental dimension;

15.calls on the Commission, together with the countries involved in the TACIS programme, to establish a strategic energy plan on energy efficiency together with side policies for the use of renewable energies and to promote investment in energy savings;

16.Instructs the European Director of the EBRD to reverse the negative environmental trend inside the Bank; recommends that investments be carried out on the basis of sustainability and, in this regard, requests that the Commission and the Bank support the establishment of the Lucerne Project Preparation Committee Secretariat at the EBRD in order to ensure the abovementioned objectives;

17.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the governments and Parliaments of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Baltic States and Georgia, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.