New report: Funding sustainable development in European regions – recommendations for the programming of EU funds in 10 CEE Countries

Today, CEE Bankwatch Network is launching a compilation of position papers which describe in detail how environmental NGOs across Central and Eastern Europe see the contribution of the next EU Budget (post 2014) to overcoming Europe’s high energy and material consumption and to protecting our nature.

The position papers offer detailed recommendations on how 10 countries across Central and Eastern Europe could spend EU funds in areas such as transport, energy and waste management. The countries covered by the Bankwatch study are: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia.

The entire compilation can be downloaded on the Bankwatch site.

The compilation is published at a time when governments of member states are coming up with national strategies for the use of the future EU Budget (the so-called “national programming” process). Even though at EU level there is a wide consensus on the need to decarbonise the European economy, use natural resources more sparingly and focus on environmental measures, national priorities often end up being different.

Our position papers indicate possible areas of concern in the national programming stage (i.e., areas where each of the governments has been known to mis-allocate funds in the past and appears likely to do that in the next budgeting period). Furthermore, we are showing that there is an alternative to the mantra of ‘development achieved via heavy infrastructure investments primarily’.

We have calculated how EU funds can be used to increase energy efficiency of all buildings and thus put an end to energy waste. We are proposing a clear prioritisation of public transport and pedestrian and biking infrastructure in order to reduce pollution and noise from roads and airports and make our cities more liveable. In some of the countries, we even propose alternative sets of indicators to measure well-being and the impact of human life on the environment, in order to inspire our governments to focus on research for new green technologies.

Our compilation strongly makes the point that it is possible to use the next EU Budget in order to transition towards resilience in Central and Eastern Europe. Citizens in our countries want to see such developments. And our national authorities have a unique opportunity to use this programming period to listen to their citizens’ voices and make wise use of valuable EU resources.