Construction of LNG terminals: Italy breaching EU regulations and international conventions

At today’s session, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia discussed the work of the Multi-sectoral Commission for Preparing the Position of the Republic of Slovenia on LNG Terminals in the Gulf of Trieste and the Coastal Zone, authorising the competent ministry to immediately request the European Commission to organise a second technical meeting regarding the construction of liquid natural gas terminals in the Gulf.

The Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning will obtain opinions from other ministries and other bodies responsible for environmental protection and the use of natural resources, and ensure public participation in the decision-making process regarding interventions proposed in the latest documentation on the Trieste–Grado gas pipeline. Slovenia will submit another written notice to Italy concerning Slovenia’s negative position regarding the transboundary environmental impact of the proposed off-shore LNG terminal.

Acting on a government decision, the Multi-sectoral Commission will draft a document that will constitute a basis for a preliminary procedure brought to the European Commission in line with Article 259 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, on the grounds that by attempting to construct the LNG terminals in the Gulf, Italy is violating EU regulations and international conventions regarding transboundary environmental impact.

The Multi-sectoral Commission will also draft a document to initiate an appeal in accordance with Article 15 of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo convention).

More information: Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning, Mrs Darija Dolenc Ulčar, Public Relations, (+386 1 478 7493, darija.dolenc[@]gov.si)

Slovenia: Danube Strategy as a keystone of stronger cohesion in the region

At today’s session, the Government adopted the position that Slovenia supports the EU Danube strategy, and plans take an active role in its creation by drawing up priority projects. In Slovenia’s view, the Strategy is a major contribution towards closer and better coordinated collaboration in the region.

The Danube Strategy is the EU’s first macro-regional strategy to include territory outside the Union involving the countries of the Western Balkans, the Ukraine and Moldova. Although the strategy is an EU development document, the Slovenian Government believes that its implementation cannot be successful without close collaboration with the countries of the Danube Basin which are not yet EU members. Slovenia is particularly interested in creating closer ties with its neighbours and the countries of the Western Balkans, with which it already cooperates in various respects.

Slovenia supports the initiative proposed by the European Commission, which is coordinating the drafting of the document, that the Danube Strategy be based on three main pillars: a) connectivity and communication, b) environment, water and risk prevention, and c) intercultural dialogue, socio-economic, human and institutional development.

As chair of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) in 2010, Slovenia plans to focus on the second of the three main pillars of the Danube Strategy, i.e. environment, water protection and risk prevention. One of the ICPDR’s concrete activities in this period will be the implementation of the joint Danube River Basin Management Plan (DRBMP), which is the basis for the effective implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the EU Floods Directive in the Basin.

Given that the Strategy is being drawn up at a time of global financial and economic crisis, which in Europe has taken its greatest toll on the countries of the Danube Basin, and since the document also includes non-member states in a much less favourable economic position than other countries in the macro region, Slovenia supports an initiative to organise a donor conference in the autumn of 2010 to attract international financial institutions that could finance concrete projects of wider significance.

The drafting of the Danube Strategy, which is being coordinated by the European Commission, follows the principles of financial, institutional and legislative neutrality, which means collaborating without new institutions, new legislative instruments, or additional EU budget funds, and is actually an upgrade of the current collaboration within the framework of the regional initiative of the Danube Cooperation Process (DCP), which was co-created by Slovenia.

More information: Government Office for Development and European Affairs (GODEA), Mrs Helena Vodušek, Public Relations (+386 1 478 2420, helena.vodusek[@]gov.si)