Statement: We Expect Eurointegration Vector To Be Directed at Enhancing Civil Society and Not Supporting Imitation Actions of Authorities

EcoLur

The Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership meeting was held in Chisinau on 4-5 October, where the Armenian National Platform Working Group 3 also took part in. The civil society discussed question connected with Association Agreement with EU and the participation of six countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

In the frames of Forum WG3 dealing with environment, energy security and sustainable development adopted a statement prepared by WG3 of Armenian National Platform.

The statement particularly says:

“Reformation of environmental policy and legislation is an influential factor towards European integration for the countries of the Eastern Partnership. The reforms in this field are extremely important for Armenia, where the decisions on the use of natural resources and conservation of environment are issued from “top” and are non-transparent, while public participation in decision-making bears insignificant and formal nature. The provisions of the international environmental conventions signed and ratified by Armenia are not complied with. The national environmental legislation is violated. The basic human rights to health and healthy environment are violated, the right to property is not enforced. The principles of environmental safety are ignored for the sake of narrow commercial interests, which results in observing ecosystem degradation and environmental quality deterioration in Armenia.   

We think that the European partnership will set up prerequisites to introduce all-party liability mechanisms for environmental risks and natural ecosystem risks, to ensure transparency and accountability of governmental bodies and businesses. The choice is quite important for us: who Armenia will interact with, which standards it will adhere to and what direction the environmental policy will be reformed in. In this regard, our deep concerns refer to the Armenian President’s statement on Armenia to join the Customs Union. Single-handed decision isn’t suitable, as, first of all, the following risks are not excluded: Armenian society isolation and estrangement from such European values as human rights, rule of law, combating corruption etc. On the other hand, we are concerned that the texts and details of the Customs Union Agreement and the European Association Agreement remain undisclosed.

We witness the activation of the European countries in environmental projects aimed at establishing new environmental areas, implementing environmental legislation and eco-educational programs, e supporting raising awareness about the environmental problems, creating alternative options in the communities located in environmental areas etc.

At the same time, a conflict between environmental and business interests is observed. Business interests are supported by the financial institutes of development. The financial projects in soil management, particularly mining projects and SHPP projects are funded through development banks, which operate with large funds.

The control over the development of natural resources in Armenia is minimum: the taxes are so insignificant that one can say that nature management is taken out of taxation and its marticipation in budget formation is minimum. It's noteworthy that the payments for the use of natural resources and nature protection account for only 0.3% of GDP and, consequently, the nature management, where super profits are formed due to non-reimbursable damage and destruction of environment, is a field for corruption risks.

Both the European community and we are interested in the conservation of water, land and forest resources, and natural ecosystem in each country separately. We acknowledge their universal values in the world exposed to global adversary changes in nature.

We are interested in the countries of the Eastern Partnership to have sustainable developed economy and social development not to promote environmental and social migration.

We expect vector of the European integration to be directed at enhancing the civil society and not supporting imitating actions of the authorities, which haven't been assessed properly by the European authorities so far. And as a result, Armenia will reach the level of implementation and protection of their rights to health and healthy and safe environment, which the citizens of the EU countries already enjoy.” 

October 10, 2013 at 13:22