The informal Green Parliamentary Group held a thematic meeting on Monday, November 15, 2021. The meeting was dedicated to the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Waste Management.
Presentation
The Draft law was presented by Igor Jezdimirović from the Environment Engineer Group. At the very beginning, he stressed out that there is not enough political will to resolve the waste issue. He stated that on average, every person in Serbia produces a kilogram of municipal waste per day.
He pointed out that Serbia’s population suffers serious health consequences due to improper waste management and the resulting pollution. There is still a major problem of lack of capacity in the field of environmental protection at the local level. The draft of this Law envisages new competencies for local self-government. The key objection of the actors of the public debate refers to Article 5. This article allows the use of mobile waste management facilities that pose a threat to the environment. In the case of mobile plants, there is no study on environmental impact assessment, but on the basis of the technology used by the plant, the consent of the local self-government is obtained for individual cases. In stationary waste incineration plants, three-quarters of the plant is in the function of environmental protection. Mobile plants do not have this. Another major problem is Article 36. It extends the deadline for storage of waste (including hazardous waste) from 12 months to 36. The reason for this is the lack of capacity of the operator. It is necessary to find mechanisms to increase their capacities, and not to extend this deadline.
Discussion
During the discussion, MP and the coordinator of the Green Parliamentary Group, Dubravka Filipovski, spoke about the shortened mandate of this convocation. She also reminded of the oversight function of the parliament. She pointed out that this convocation has done a lot and that the next convocation is still in for a lot of work. MP Vesna Ivković added that the biggest problem in the field of waste management is the lack of administrative and financial capacities at the local level. While Ms. Nataša Jovanović spoke about the fact that MPs don’t have much influence on local self-government. Mr. Goran Kovačević reminded of the crisis in which the world finds itself. He also said that according to his calculations public-private partnerships could reduce waste transportation prices.
The Members of Parliament who attended the thematic meeting are: Slaviša Bulatović, Nenad Mitrović, Vladimir Grahovac, Zoran Bojanić, Nenad Krstić, Olja Petrović, Bosiljka Srdić, Vesna Ivković, Mladen Bošković, Adrijana Pupovac, Vesna Krišanov, Dubravka Filipovski, Goran Kovačević, prof. dr Ljubiša Stojmirović, Nataša Jovanović, Bratimir Vasiljević, Milija Miletić, Bojan Torbica, Branimir Jovanović, Samira Ćosović, Jasmina Karanac i Žarko Bogatinović.
This meeting was organized in support of the Green Parliamentary Group of the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
