Collective responsibility which bears all the respective Governments from 2003 onwards, but also institutional responsibility of the Department of Environment is identified by the Research Committee regarding the condemnation of Cyprus at EU level in 2013 for landfills, but also the subsequent delay observed for compliance of Cyprus with its European obligations. The report mentions, among other things, a lack of coordination between those in charge, a lack of studies and planning, but also a tendency to avoid responsibilities and expresses concern about the achievement of the 2020 targets for recycling.
The conclusion of the Investigative Committee is made public by the Attorney General Costas Clerides, noting that it was handed over to him on June 8, "together with the decision of the Commission that the text of the Report be made public as soon as it deems appropriate".
The Research Committee consisted of three members and consisted of its President, Lawyer Andreas Dimitriou, Assistant Tax Officer Stelios Kountouris and University of Cyprus Professor Panos Papanastasiou.
According to the conclusion of the Commission of Inquiry of all governments from 2003 onwards is the responsibility for the condemnation of the Republic of Cyprus in July 2013 by the Court of the European Union in connection with its failure to decommission all uncontrolled landfills waste disposal and comply with its obligations under EU law.
It is stated that "the respective obligations of the Republic of Cyprus to implement the relevant legislation at both national and European level were not taken seriously and their treatment was superficial".
"The institutional responsibility as well as the general responsibility of environmental protection was and continues to be borne by the Environment Service of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment", it is noted.
It adds that "no strategic planning has been done since 2003 and insufficient financial and human resources have been allocated with sufficient know-how to fulfill the obligations of the Republic of Cyprus in the context of good administration and the expected response of the state machine to its obligations, both to the EU as well as against its own citizens ".
The answers given by the competent Ministries of Interior and Agriculture after the initiation of the procedure by the EU Commission and during the trial of the case "are characterized by disagreements between them and a tendency to avoid responsibilities for advancing the objectives of the relevant legislation within the time specified the Directive ".
Although the recent decision to outsource Nicosia waste management to the Kosia plant is positive, "the Commission does not miss the sad fact that this development as well as the outsourcing of a company which, with the admission of its senior executives, was directly involved in matters of corruption to the detriment of the place and, consequently, of its citizens, could have been avoided with timely and correct reflection, rational definition of obligations and responsibilities and proper choice of advice that would have prepared appropriate studies and given the right advice to competent departments ".
The Commission is also concerned about the possibility of a new conviction for failing to meet the 2020 target for recycling 50% of the waste generated at source "because it does not appear at first glance that the necessary measures will be taken by the Department for the Environment". .
"Taking into account the various data from the evidence submitted by the Research Committee, it concludes that the Ministry of Interior could start the negotiation process with the Vasilikos Cement Company Public Company in time, since it was the only economic body for the disposal of waste." .
The tender, it is added, "for the disposal of the SRF / RDF was finally announced with a 5 year delay in 2017 by the Water Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment without any serious expression of interest as one could easily have predicted".
The difference of opinion on the non-implementation of measures for the implementation of the directive is fatal
At the same time, the Research Committee finds "a difference of opinion between the Ministry of Interior and the Department of Environment, something that existed throughout the period when the Ministry of Interior was responsible for the implementation of the projects."
"This dimension, as we will see later, was fatal in the non-implementation of the measures for the implementation of Directive 1999/31 / EC and the avoidance of the conviction against the Republic of Cyprus in July 2013."
The Research Committee agrees with the positions expressed by the then DG of the Ministry of Interior A. Assiotis and the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs K. Kotziapasis that the proposal of the Department of Environment, as presented at a meeting at the Presidential Palace on July 25, 2013, was "unrealistic" and unsubstantiated "and that" it is not a serious and scientific study because it is not based on reliable and real data but on a design based on expectations, wishes and unsubstantiated assumptions ".
These positions, according to the Research Committee, "are confirmed by the fact that 5 years later, in the year 2018, the Department of Environment does not have to show substantial work on the strategy proposed for waste reduction, such as incentive measures to increase the recycling rate. at the source ".
The completion of OADA Limassol is the only positive exception
In relation to OEDA Limassol, the Research Committee praises Odysseas Michailidis for his insistence on unblocking the tender award based on the judgment of the researcher Th. Lolos, by awarding the tender based on the financial offer, a position which he also adopted. the then Minister of Interior Eleni Mavrou.
"Judging from the result that the cost of waste management at ODA Limassol was secured at € 19 / ton compared to € 69 / ton at the Kosia plant, the Research Committee finds that in the time-consuming and endless process of Household Waste Management in Cyprus 2013 until today, the completion of OADA Limassol is the only positive exception ".
The construction of OEDA Nicosia would be an advantage
Regarding the non-implementation of OEDA Nicosia, the report states, among other things, that "the most important advantage with the creation of OEDA Nicosia would be the existence of an additional solution for municipal waste management so that the state would not be forced to negotiate with the contractor for OEDA Kosis taking into account the problems of the relevant agreement as well as the fact that a new tender for the award of a contract will be announced soon ".
"It is also reprehensible that the Department of the Environment, as the body responsible for the protection of the environment, which includes soil and groundwater which also affects public health, has not shown any interest in taking immediate action to implement Directive 1999/31 / FROM.
"The Research Committee does not believe that the policy for the creation of the four OEDAs with the appropriate capacity would prevent the recycling measures at the source, a position always advocated by the Department of Environment, while in addition to the recycling measures, the sorting for recovery even by RDF, will continue to exist making the Units necessary ".
The Commission "notes that disagreements and lack of coordination between the officials of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Environment, the insufficient studies and plans for the various projects have resulted in delays in the implementation of projects as well as an increased risk of not achieving the objectives of 2020 ".
Source: KYPE