The 17th session of the Hungarian-Slovakian Joint Committee on Environmental Protection and Conservation Cooperation was held in Budapest on 12 April in the spirit of reinforcing environmental protection and conservation relations, discussing taska relating to EU commitments, developing cross-border cooperation and increasing environmental safety, and was co-chaired by minister of states Zsolt V. Németh and Norbert Kurilla from the two countries’ relative ministries responsible for environmental protection.

At the meeting, the parties reviewed the current status of cooperation, which has been ongoing for eighteen years within the framework of the Joint Committee based on an inter-governmental agreement concluded in 1999, and agreed on further mutually beneficial activities within the fields of protecting landscape elements, conservation and soil protection, waste management, environmental impact assessments, remediation, environmental health, cross-border regional planning, geology and geophysics, and meteorology. In addition, they also shared information on transboundary waters cooperation and the fight against environmental crime.

Download

The Slovakian party announced at the meeting that as a result of the major protests against the planned plastics waste processing unit project in Štúrovo (Párkány), the initiative has been withdrawn, and accordingly the Slovakian administration has terminated the related environmental impact study procedure, which Hungary had also applied to take part in. The goal of the Slovakian party is to find a mutually acceptable compromise.

Download

It was stressed at the meeting that ongoing joint work within many frameworks represents a mutually important cooperation and interest enforcement opportunity for the two countries, and especially the V4, the Danube Region cooperation’s and the Carpathians Framework Treaty, of which Hungary is currently President. The next session of the Joint Committee will be held in Slovakia in early 2018.

(Ministry of Agriculture)