Moldova was among the first states that signed and ratified the Aarhus Convention, but approved the plan of action for implementing this document only in 11 years. Environmental policy expert Andrei Isac, in a news conference at IPN, said this was due to particular political impediments that existed in the country during certain periods - the Communist government didn’t want to implement such documents, while the current government is not willing to promote environmental governance, which is supported only by the foreign partners.

The expert said that until 2011 there was no efficient plan for implementing the three basic pillars of the Aarhus Convention: access to information, the public’s participation in taking decisions concerning the environment, and access to justice. “Even if the plan of action was ultimately drafted and we could obtain assistance for promoting the related activities, the governmental bodies didn’t mobilize and many of the provisions included in the plan of action remained unimplemented,” stated Andrei Isac.

Therefore, representatives of civil society of Moldova and foreign experts will assess the actions that had to be taken in the short term, during five years. They will determine what was done and what wasn’t, but it’s clear that the environmental legislation is not appropriate. The Law on the Protection of the Environment, endorsed in 2011, hasn’t been yet adopted by Parliament.

Andrei Isac noted that many of the provisions of the plan of action do not need substantial investments for being implemented. Only political will is needed. In Ukraine, a complex working group was created to adjust the national environmental legislation to the EU’s and this was done because there was political will.