|
In the process of harmonization and implementation of EU
legislation, the Latvian government has set 1 January 2003 as the
date when Latvian can accept the role of an EU member.
In October 2000, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the
negotiation position paper of Latvia in the chapter Environmental
Protection. Initially, Latvia requested transition periods for 23
EU directives. After additional discussions and consultations with
the European Commission, the number of requested transition
periods was further decreased to eight.
Transition periods have not been required in the following
fields:
- environmental information;
- environmental impact assessment;
- chemical substance and genetically modified organism control;
- noise control;
- climate change;
- civil protection.
Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
produced a detailed financial budget for implementation of EU
requirements in the environmental sector. The budget includes EU
pre-accession structural funds, national and municipal funds, and
credit resources. It expected that more than 850 million LVL will
be required for the time period up to 2015, of which a large part
will be covered by EU structural funds.
|
