Podgorica, (MINA) – The closing of Chapter 27 – Environment and Climate Change will depend on the capacity of the state to establish sustainable financial mechanisms, director of the Montenegrin office of the Regional Environmental Center for South East Europe Srna Sudar has stated.
Sudar told Mina that Chapter 27 requires a sectoral approach to environmental protection and sustainable development, which involves integrating the environment policy into all other sectoral policies.
According to her, this is one of the most complex, most demanding and most costly chapters in the EU accession talks.
“It involves improving the state and quality of environment, preserving biodiversity and human health by implementing over 200 key EU legal documents, which needs to be accompanied by adequate financial mechanisms for their sustainability,” Sudar explained.
According to her, implementation requires serious funds, due to the significant costs of large infrastructure projects, such as facilities for wastewater purification and waste disposal.
Sudar noted that Montenegro needs to strengthen its administrative capacities at all levels, especially at the local level, in order to be able to use the funds and implement the projects that will address the major environmental issues.
She argues that the process of meeting the objective and commitments under Chapter 27 could be easier through cooperation between the state administration and professional and scientific institutions, civil society, private sector and international organizations as partners in accessing the available funds.
“The closing of Chapter 27 will largely depend on the capability of the state to establish sustainable financial mechanisms for the financing of environmental protection activities,” Sudar stated.
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