By Nenad Radicevic

One of the conditions for us joining the European Union (EU) is to follow the steps of developed countries in renewable energy resources investments, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning in the Government of Serbia Oliver Dulic has said at the Conference on Climate Changes held recently in Poznan. Although the Minister has been reassuring his European colleagues that Serbia was open for investments in cleaner and energy more efficient technologies, in this part of Europe currently has been spent 4.6 times more energy than the European average. At the same time both the consumers and industrial facilities owners` switch to the wind and sun energies seems light years away. Additional pollution reduction represents political challenge for even many EU member countries. Nevertheless, at the last week`s summit leaders of all the 27 Union members have unanimously adopted the package of measures for fighting climate changes.

For Serbia that has not been investing in the environment protection for the last twenty years this means the additional hurdle to overcome. However, domestic public does not pay attention to these inevitable challenges.

There was no anxiety sensed even after Minister Dulic`s estimations that Serbia would need some four billion euros for adapting to the EU rules in the sphere of the environment protection as well as for the necessary projects in realising this obligation. As far as the waste water is concerned there is a need for additional 10 billion euros.

However, at the recent EU Summit the European leaders have proved consciousness on the pollution reduction importance was stronger than the estimation that the sharp greenhouse gases reduction norms would lead to considerable rise in prices of the European products.

An estimation that the new ecological regulations in economic crisis conditions will be disastrous for the European economy, especially its competitiveness on the world market, has been compensated with the same time concessions to the European countries` industries.

Germany, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, as well as most of the East-European members, have fervently defended their industries from the new ecological expense. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has insistently defended German steel and cement, and chemical and processing industries while her Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi has tried to protect the interests of the glass, ceramics, and paper industries.

The automobile industry that was the first to feel the economy crisis destructive impact has been the principal defence of both Italian Prime Minister and German Chancellor. However, under Nicola Sarkozy`s diplomatic pressure European leaders have agreed the Brussels administration should help European producers in case they were hit by the "unfair" competition on the world market thanks to bigger industrial pollution quotas allowed in other countries.

Sarkozy has said "there is no continent in the world that has (as Europe) committed itself so rigorously" to reducing harmful gasses and introducing renewable energy and consumption saving. By not letting the economic crisis to be an excuse for the further environment ruining the EU leaders have achieved an agreement for the carbon dioxide emissions to be reduced by 20 percent under the 1990 level by 2020 and renewable energy resources proportion, including wind and sun energies, to reach 20 percent of the total EU energy-generating products consumption. However, new ecological regulations are the biggest challenge for the Visegrad Four countries, Baltic Sates, Bulgaria, and Romania.

For the nine new EU member countries the biggest obstacle towards compromise has been complying with the so-called EU`s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) that could have kept back their industries with out-of-date technology. The ETS enables companies to buy licenses, i.e., certain pollution quotas at special auctions.

Polish experts have calculated that the purchase of those not at all cheap licenses for the carbon dioxide emissions in Polish economy that depends 90 percent of "dirty coal" would provoke electricity price rise for even 90 percent.

Therefore it has been agreed for the companies in the countries where more than one third of energy is obtained from coal and where per capita income is less than the European average to be partially exempted from paying the ETS licenses. This exemption will be gradually reduced while the East-European countries will also get direct Union financial support for renewal of technology and this energy-ecology package of measures goals achieving.

In spite of all challenges, the French EU Presidency has managed to work out adoption of this ambitious plan that the Bush administration has also called in question by not accepting the Brussels invitation for industrialised countries to sign law abiding international agreement on emissions reduction.

However, in these new circumstances and higher European standards, the Serbia`s media do not notice future EU members would also have to invest in cleaner technologies and renewable energy resources.

New European package of measures is also a step forward in years-long efforts in achieving global climate agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol upon its expiration in 2012. By contrast, only last month in Serbia was constituted the National Body for Clean Development Mechanisms Application and that way conditions for the Kyoto Protocol applying have been achieved.

Since the ecological standards upgrading marks the start of the so-called "post Kyoto period" comforting is the statement of Minister Oliver Dulic that Serbia, being a small country, "has started its way towards the organisation of the region countries in order to form the Balkans negotiating group that will try to follow the EU positions and protect its interests at the same time."

In case Serbia, in spite of the economic crisis, does not start more aggressive campaign and investments in renewable energy resources soon, ecological regulations could be a great obstacle in Serbia joining the EU.

Anyway, the EU Integration Office negotiators will have tough job in achieving the longest possible transitional period for European ecological regulations application while negotiating with the Brussels administration. Namely, there will be no negotiations on whether we shall apply the standards but just on when this will be done.

For certain standards Hungary has managed to negotiate transitional period until 2015 when it will have to apply all the European ecological regulations for decades neglected during the Communist system.