SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE HON FRANCIS ZAMMIT DIMECH MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT DURING THE SESSION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AT THE SIXTH INFORMAL MEETING BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

During the speech delivered on the occasion of the Sixth Informal Meeting of the Commission with the Ministers for the Environment, Minister Francis Zammit Dimech emphasised the importance of these meetings which serve as a motivation for the applicant countries in their difficult task of aligning their internal legislation, policies and administrative set-ups with the provisions of the environmental acquis. The environmental aspects of the acquis communautaire are recognised as being among the most challenging both to applicant countries and to the Member States themselves.

The meeting covered such key issues as compliance with EU environmental legislation, the preparation of projects for accession related infrastructure investments, the means of ensuring maximum leverage of available financial resources for environmental investment and the setting of priorities and criteria for Directive Specific Implementation Programmes.

Minister Zammit Dimech emphasised that the cost attached to the adoption of the high environmental standards envisaged in the acquis communautaire. However, this cost is actually an investment, the fruits of which will be reaped by both present and future generations. He emphasised the progress made by Malta despite its limited financial resources. The adoption of the acquis communautaire implies more than the mere transposition of legislation. It implies a need for new skills and the training of scarce human resources as well as more monitoring and an increase in the pressure on the enforcement bodies.

Among the steps taken by the Maltese Government to achieve its targets for the adoption of the environmental acquis, Minister Zammit Dimech mentioned the adoption of the National Plan for the Adoption of the Acquis, the adoption of the Malta Resources Authority Act, the proposal for a new Environment Protection Act, the ratification of the Basle Convention on the Transboundary

Movement of Hazardous Waste and the numerous studies on the implications of the adoption of the different parts of the acquis communautaire which have either been finalised or which are in an advanced stage of preparation. The latter will assist the Government in the finalisation of Malta's position for negotiation with the European Union and in the identification of the special arrangements, which might be required as a result of Malta's unique features.

Minister Zammit Dimech also mentioned the impetus, which the accession process has given to the mainstreaming of environmental concerns, the manner in which environmental matters have started to play a role in practically all sectors of the national economy and the manner in which environmental concerns have gone up in the agendas of the accession countries.

He also identified a number of hurdles to the process of the adoption of the acquis, among them the bottleneck that is being created at a parliamentary level. Minister Zammit Dimech also mentioned the fact that certain special features of the Maltese islands might make it more difficult for Malta to adapt itself to certain parts of the acquis communautaire. In certain cases, such as the recycling of certain fractions of waste, achieving economies of scale will be impossible. However, the Maltese Government is confident that these hurdles will be overcome both through working in partnership with industry and through negotiations and goodwill on the part of both Malta and the Commission.

During his speech, Minister Zammit Dimech also referred to the Resolution, which the European Parliament adopted on Malta's application for accession and which placed particular importance to the adoption of the Community acquis in the environmental field.