At the proposal of Committee Chairperson Maja Gojkovic, the Committee opened a discussion on the Activity Information, presented by Ministry representatives who took questions on the submitted document.

The Committee members had questions about the Ministry’s normative activities, implementation of ongoing projects, new rulebooks to be passed and the Directive on wild birds on the territory of the Republic of Serbia in view of its importance for the negotiation position on Chapter 27. The Committee members were also interested in project Ecotan in the municipality of UB – toxic waste storage, and the management of the landfill in Zajaca.

Committee Chairperson Maja Gojkovic said that, though the report was comprehensive, the Ministry needs to intensify its normative activity. The Ministry should organize a public debate on the Draft Law on climate change and finalize and submit a Bill into assembly procedure. Gojkovic informed the Committee members and Ministry representatives that she had had a number of meetings with the representatives of the Recyclers Association of Serbia which is in debt to banks due to the state’s lagging recycling payments. The Association comprises 16,000 employees, from collectors of secondary raw materials to engineers, who are in danger of losing their jobs if no budgetary funds are allocated to settle these debts. Branislav Atanaskovic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the matter had been discussed with the Minister of Finance and talks to pay the Association from the budgetary reserves were underway. He also said that the long-awaited Bill on Climate Change would be submitted into assembly procedure by the end of the year.

Representatives of the NGOs taking part in the Committee’s work through the Green Chair mechanism wanted to know about public debates on environmental draft laws and when the resulting bills would enter assembly procedure, as well as whether the negotiating position on Chapter 27 would be made available public.

Prof. Dr Vladimir Dzamic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the Committee members would receive written answers to their questions within a week at the latest.

Following a discussion, the Committee members adopted the Ministry of Environmental Protection Activity Information for the period February, March and April 2019.

They also set up a Working Group to handle the civic petitions submitted to the Environmental Protection Committee, comprising Prof. Dr Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic, Nada Lazic and Aleksandra Jevtic.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Maja Gojkovic, and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Ivana Nikolic, Milena Turk, Radoslav Cokic, Zarko Bogatinovic, Nada Lazic, Borka Grubor, Prof. Dr Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic, Dusko Tarbuk, Dr Ljubinko Rakonjac, Borisav Kovacevic, Jasmina Karanac and Aleksandra Jevtic.