Kosovo authorities and European Commission set priorities in transport, environment, energy and regional development
Pristina, 25 March 2011 - A wide range of topics such as air quality, waste management, water protection, road safety, development of railways, energy efficiency, nuclear safety and decentralisation, were discussed during the two-day meeting between Kosovo authorities and the European Commission. Fulfilment of the conclusions from this meeting will have direct impact on Kosovo's progress on its European Integration path and will be reflected in the 2011 Progress Report.
In environment, the Kosovo authorities presented their plans for new laws this year on waste and water, to improve the performance of the different bodies working in this sector and therefore the quality of water and waste management. The government will expand a network of air quality monitoring stations (which has been partly funded by the EU) as a start to improving the quality of Kosovo’s air.
Other topics discussed were how Kosovo can contribute to EU-wide environmental priorities such as the fight against climate change and nature conservation, the latter on the basis of the law that Kosovo adopted last year. The Ministry of Environment is the lowest-spending ministry in Kosovo, but this area has benefited from substantial EU assistance and the Commission will continue to fund projects in this area to improve the well-being of Kosovo’s citizens. However, the Commission also expressed its concern that the low-level of state funding for this sector is a major constraint in making more substantive progress in achieving much-needed improvements in environment quality. It also called on the government to produce a long-term vision of the investment and staff needs to address Kosovo’s major environment challenges.
In transport, the Commission praised Kosovo for the hard work and positive developments in implementing aviation norms and standards, so much so that, under the regional European Civil Aviation Area Agreement, Kosovo is likely to be one of the first partners to have met the requirements to be granted additional transport rights to and from the EU. The improvements as a result of Kosovo’s ambitious road-building programme were also noted, although the Commission expressed the hope that this programme will not divert valuable funds from other vital transport investments: in other road-building projects, road maintenance, but also other transport modes, notably railways. The Commission also called upon Kosovo to do more to reduce the heavy toll of accidents and fatalities on Kosovo’s roads. It also acknowledged the efforts of the government as regards rail reform.
The problems of Kosovo’s energy sector are well known to its citizens, and the discussions centred on how EU-centred reforms can help ensure a steady and secure supply whilst mitigating the heavy environmental cost of Kosovo’s energy sector. Whilst hearing of the progress in preparing for a new power plant, both sides recalled that the Prime Minister gave a commitment to close the heavily-polluting Kosovo A plant by 2015 at the latest. Kosovo also presented its plans to promote renewable energies (such as the Zhur hydropower plant) and improve energy efficiency, an area where the EU has already invested heavily to decrease the energy bills of public buildings, and will continue to do so. The Commission called upon Kosovo to improve the level of energy collection which, whilst it has increased slowly in recent years, still remains at a level so low as to threaten the economic health of the power company, not to mention contributing to an unsustainable growth in power demand.
Finally the discussion on regional development considered how Kosovo is implementing its programme of decentralising power and competences to the municipalities. As well as the legal transfer, for decentralisation to work for Kosovo’s citizens, the municipalities need to have the capacity to take on their new responsibilities. The EU has also helped to develop these capacities, as well as to promote economic development and projects at municipality or regional level.
