EEA celebrates enlargement to 13 new countries
The European Environment Agency (EEA) celebrated its enlargement to 13 candidate countries with a special event on 17 May. The EEA marked the milestone with a high-level conference attended by Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström and ministers and management board members from EEA member and observer countries. The Copenhagen-based agency, the main European-level provider of environmental information, is the first European Union body to open its doors to the 13 countries that have applied for EU membership. In a speech to the conference, Ms Wallström said the early contact between the EU and the accession countries that membership of the EEA can provide is important, describing the expansion of the agency as one of its most important achievements. The EEA is 'a vital source of information and analysis [that] provides all of us working on environment at the European level with the kind of information that allows us to make a good case when proposing new policies,' she said. Some 11 of the countries became EEA members during 2001. They are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. Turkey's representative at the conference said his country would complete its EEA membership formalities by the end of May. It is anticipated that Poland will also do so within the coming weeks. Speakers at the event also took the opportunity to congratulate EEA executive director Domingo Jiménez-Beltrán on his achievements during his eight years of service. Mr Jiménez-Beltrán is leaving the agency when his contract expires at the end of May 2002.