There is political will to eliminate current backlogs, said the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panayiotou, after a meeting with the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, on Monday morning, at the Ministry of Agriculture, in Nicosia. Oh his part, the Commissioner expressed his satisfaction about the issues set by the Minister as a priority.
During the meeting with the Commissioner, as Panayiotou stated, “we focused on issues, mainly concerning the current legislative implementations and our steps towards the integrated management of urban waste – fields in which the cooperation and guidance of the Commissioner’s office is necessary to achieve our European goals, as well as our national ones”.
“The implementation of our waste management directives remains one of the biggest challenges for Cyprus, given the high waste production and low recycling rates,” the Minister of Agriculture said, adding that “we are working intensivel
y to implement the National Strategic Plan of Municipal Waste Management 2022-2028”.
“It is a fact that we have a lot of work to do until we get closer to the European goals, which are also the goals of the Republic of Cyprus”, emphasized Maria Panayiotou, noting that she asked the Commissioner to share good practices he has already identified at EU level, in order to further strengthen the effort of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Furthermore, the Minister of Agriculture said that the pending issues of Cyprus, which are the completion of the Decrees for the management of Natura 2000 areas as soon as possible, with the necessary scientific documentation, the improvement of procedures regarding the assessment of projects likely to affect Natura 2000 areas under the Nature Act, as well as the adequacy of the Natura 2000 Network, were also discussed during the meeting.
“As we have also informed the Commissioner regarding the determination of specific conservation objectives and conservation measures for Special
Conservation Areas (SACs), we are working continuously to intensify the process of defining specific conservation objectives and to prepare the necessary legislative framework in order to achieve compliance with the directive as soon as possible”, Panayiotou pointed out.
She also said that she assured the Commissioner of the political will to eliminate backlogs, adding that she has already given instructions to make the necessary changes, so that all pending issues may be completed and closed within a specific time frame.
“The completion of the pending cases is not due to the violations, but because it is the highest priority for us to protect the environment and to ensure the balance between environmental protection and development,” the Minister of Agriculture noted.
“The challenges we face are great in order to reach the desired, for all of us, level of efficiency and quality. Your support is very important in aligning our national initiatives with wider EU policies and directives,” she added.
Furtherm
ore, Maria Panayiotou expressed her commitment to the implementation of all the necessary corrective actions for the protection and preservation of the environment, noting that this “constitutes the highest priority of the Governance Programme”.
Finally, she expressed the certainty that “together we can achieve the ambitious goals set by the European Green Agreement and ensure a sustainable future for Cyprus, the European Union and our entire planet”.
On his part, the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, said that during his meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, the most urgent issues were discussed. As he said, although this is an election period and soon we will have European elections, there are still ongoing files which will go beyond the current European Commission mandate.
“We have discussed those files and particularly soil monitoring, which is extremely important for Cyprus,” Sinkevicius stated, adding that the ongoing infringement procedures
were also discussed. ”As regards the waste management and urban wastewater treatment, there is a court ruling already in place,” he pointed out, expressing his satisfaction that the Minister of Agriculture and her team take this issue as a priority.
In addition, the Commissioner highlighted that six other infringement proceedings are ongoing, which also require attention. As he said, “that is a heavy load for the Minister and her team”, and spoke of “problems that piled up through the years, but require immediate attention from the Minister’s team”. “The European Commission is well informed of the political priorities of Cyprus,” he noted.
Furthermore, Sinkevicius said that the future Cypriot presidency of the European Union was briefly discussed, where water is going to be one of the key topics. “I cannot preempt the next Commission’s priorities, but water is a pressing issue and it is very likely that it will also be high on the Commission’s agenda, with the further European Council presidencies also pr
ioritising it,” he pointed out. Finally, he expressed the certainty that this issue will require more and more attention and European decisions to be put in place.
Source: Cyprus News Agency