


Serbian and SAV campaigners are now stepping up their campaign for the protection of Stara Planina another ‘notch’ by undertaking the following:
- On 10/06/12, SAV wrote to EU Commissioners Janez Potocnik and Commissioner Stefan Fule regarding this current situation in Serbia, and providing what we considered was new additional evidence regarding the destruction at the park, with regards approval for construction work only being applied for to the ministry AFTER the construction work had actually taken place.
Please click on the following link for information:
https://serbiananimalsvoice.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/serbia-0612-the-stara-planina-campaign-moves-on-again-with-further-eu-commission-involvement/
To further the campaign with the EU Environment Commission and also the EU Enlargement Commission, Serbian environmental campaigners also wrote (12/06/12) to the EU, as well as to the Ministry of the Environment within Serbia.
EPAR, Prijava sumnje na divlju gradnju na Staroj planini i.
EPAR, Zahtev za info od javnog znacaja, gradj. inspekcija, Stara planina, 27.12.2011.
Zakon o zastiti prirode, izmene i dopune i Uredba iz 2012.
The request to the Serbian Ministry was for access to information which should be provided under public interest, asking the ministry a series of questions about the issue of construction work at Stara Planina. The Serbian Ministry has an obligation to respond to the campaigners questions because of the legislation relating to the agreement of public interests law which exists within Serbia.



The response from the Serbian Ministry is shown below and has not been edited at all – the green text is a translation into English by Serbian campaigners:
——– Original Message ——–
Поштовани,
Respectful
У вези вашег захтева за достављање информација од јавног значаја, упућеног електронски 27.02.2012. године, поводом ваше пријаве од 22.11.2011. и допуне пријаве од 30.01.2012. године, везано за грађевинске радове у Парку природе „Стара планина“, на подручју Споменика природе „Бабин зуб“ и „Јабучко равниште“ и друго из захтева, обавештавамо вас следеће:
У поступку вршења инспекцијског надзора на предметној локацији, републичка грађевинска инспекција, између осталог, донела је и:
Concerning your request for sending information of public importance, forwarded by electronic mail, 27.02.2012, related to your application from 22.11.2011 and amendments to the applications from 30.01.2012, concerning construction works in the Nature Park “Stara Planina”, in the area of Natural Monument “Babin Zub” and “Jabucko Ravniste”, and other items from the request, we inform You on the following:
During the procedure of inspection survey on the specified location, the Republican construction inspection among others, brought the following:
· Решење Бр.920-352-354-173/2011-13 од 22.03.2012. године, којим се инвеститору наређује уклањање објекта жичаре који представља фиксни четворосед;
Issue No. 920-352-354-173/2011-13 of 22.03.2012 by which the investor is ordered to remove the ski lift objects composed of the fixed four-seated lift;
IE – DO THE CONSTRUCTION WORK AND CAUSE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE – THEN AFTER THIS YOU WILL HAVE TO REMOVE IT !

· Решење Бр.920-352-354-172/2011-13 од 22.03.2012. године, којим се инвеститору наређује уклањање линијског инфраструктурног објекта – гондоле;
Issue No. 920-352-354-172/2011-13 of 22.03.2012 by which the investor is ordered to remove the linear infrastructure object-gondolas;
IE – AGAIN, DO THE CONSTRUCTION WORK AND CAUSE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE – THEN AFTER THIS YOU WILL HAVE TO REMOVE IT !
· Решење, Закључак о дозволи извршења и Закључак о обустави поступка Бр. 920-353-354-204/2010-13 од 21.07.2011- године.
Issue, conclusion of permission of execution and conclusion of termination of procedure No. 920-353-354-204/2010-13 of 21.07.2011- године.
Изградња објекта ретардационе преграде са вишенаменском акумулацијом на Дебештинској реци, на Старој планини, се врши сходно налогу из решења Министарства пољопривреде и шумарства и водопривреде број 271-325-15/2011-03 од 01.03.2011. године, којим се ЈВП ”Србијаводе”, налаже предузимање мера на спречавању започетих ерозивних процеса изазваних јаким бујичним кишама насталим услед тољења снега. Инвеститор је приступио изградњи на основу члана 143. став 1. Закона о планирању и изградњи (“Службени гласник РС”, број 72/09, 81/09 и 24/11) – без претходно прибављЍ
?не грађевинске дозволе. Инвеститор има поступити у складу са чланом 143. став 3. Закона о планирању и изградњи (“Службени гласник РС”, број 72/09, 81/09 и 24/11) и прибавити грађевинску дозволу, односно решење из члана 145. овог закона, у року од једне године од дана престанка опасности које су проузроковале његово грађење, односно извођење радова
Construction of barrier with multipurpose accumulation on the Debestin River, on Stara Planina, is executed comitent to the order of the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Waters, No. 271-325-15/2011-03 from 01.03.2011, by which the Public Company “Serbiavode” is bound to undertake measures to prevent the beginning of erosion processes initiated by strong torrents resulting from the melting of snow. The investor approached the construction on the basis of article 143. statement 1. Law on Planning and Construction (Official Gazette, Rep. Serbia No 72/09, 81/09, and 24/11), without obtaining beforehand the construction permissions.
The investor is to comply according to article 143. statement 3, Law on Planning and Construction Official Gazette, Rep. Serbia No 72/09, 81/09, and 24/11 and obtain construction permission according to article 145 of this Law, within one year AFTER THE END of danger CAUSED BY THE CONSTRUCTION ie. execution of the works.
IE – APPLICATION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION WORK TO BE UNDERTAKEN WITHIN ONE YEAR OF IT BEING FULLY COMPLETED !!!



Напомињемо да, сагласно одредбама чл. 24. ст. 3. Закона о слободном приступу информацијама од јавног значаја („Сл. гласник РС“, бр.120/04, 54/07, 104/09 и 36/10), а имајући у виду одредбе чл. 9. истог Закона, овај орган неће доказивати да је поступао, обзиром да је у току поступак вршења инспекцијског надзора, односно, поступак издавања грађевинских дозвола за планиране објекте на предметној локацији.
We note that in agreement with article 24, statement 3, Law of Free Approach to Information of Public Interest, (Official Gazette, Rep. Serbia No. 120/04, 54/07, 104/09 and 36/10) and having in mind the article 9 of the same Law, this organisation will not prove that it acted, since the procedure of inspection survey is on, ie. the procedure of issuing the construction permission for the planned objects is underway for the specified location.
***********************************************************
Radmila Padežanin
Ministry for Environmental Protection, Mining and Spatial Planning
Ministarstvo životne sredine, rudarstva i prostornog planiranja
Nemanjina 11
11 000 Beograd
Tel: 011/36-17-717
Faks: 011/36-17-722
http://www.ekoplan.gov.rs<http://www.ekoplan.gov.rs/>
PS Personal comment
*** This is a typical example of how something in Nature is destroyed and the permission is obtained afterwards to cover actually illegal activities. ***
Ovo je tipican nacin da se u prirodi nesto upropasti i naknadno donose dozvole da bi se pokrile ustvari nelegalne aktivnosti.
——————————————–
As a result of further evidence being provided to EU Commissions by both SAV and Serbian environmental campaigners, we were very disappointed with the EU to have the following letter sent to us:
Reply to EPAR OIPA Serbia
We are rather amazed that the EU Commissions do not consider that we have provided them with ‘any new substantial information’ and that they could effectively not be bothered to further investigate our information and concerns.
We think that this is primarily because Serbia is currently not an EU member state, despite the fact that it will probably become a member within the next 5 years. In our view, both the EU Environment and Enlargement Commissions are ignoring the evidence presented to them; declaring that they are not going to act with regard a future EU member state; and thus basically ignoring our information and further evidence.
Despite being very disappointed by the dismissive attitude of the EU Commissions; who should be investigating both environmental issues and also future (new) member state activities before they become EU members, we will continue to obtain evidence and approach the EU with regard illegal construction work which is only applied for to the Serbian authorities once the construction work has already been completed.
We are aware of this fact and have it in writing (see green text above) from the Serbian authorities.
It appears that the EU Commission does not really care about the situation of further environmental destruction within Serbia, simply referring us back to past correspondence between the EU and Serbian authorities, in which the Serbian authorities claim that they really care about the environment; when in reality, it would seem ok to apply for approval to the Ministry undertake constructions in protected areas only once all the construction work has actually been done !!
We see this as a major failure of the system – but it would appear that the EU Commissions see this policy of the Serbian government in another way !





Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, SERBIA (Central Serbia: Capital - Belgrade) and (Serbia | Leave a comment »