Informal Meeting of EU Environment Ministers: Media Advisory

The informal meeting of EU environment ministers will take place on 10 and 11 April 2018 in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. Ministers will discuss issues related to air quality, better implementation of EU environment law, and the international climate negotiations.

The meeting will be chaired by the Bulgarian Minister of the Environment and Water, Dr Neno Dimov.

Agenda

10 April 2018 | Tuesday

11:30 - 12:00 Arrivals at the National Palace of Culture, doorsteps and handshake

13:00 - 13:30 Official signing of the Programme Agreement of Environment and Climate Change Programme under European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2014 - 2021

13:20 - 13:30 Roundtable

13:30 - 15:00 Session I: Ambient Air Quality - Better Solutions for Higher Quality of Life

Opening remarks by Dr Neno Dimov, Minister of the Environment and Water (streamed live)

Moderator: Mr Julian Popov, Goodwill Ambassador on climate and energy for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018 (UK/ Bulgaria)

Air pollution is a serious environmental and social issue which poses many challenges related to the management and mitigation of the impact of harmful pollutants. This is an issue which all individual EU Member States, as well as the EU as a whole, are facing. The time has come to reconsider the current approaches for solving these issues and to switch from visions and ambitions to viable solutions and concrete actions. Effective actions for reducing the impact of air pollution require profound changes both in policies as well as lifestyles and mind-sets.

15:00 - 15:15 Family photo

15:15 - 15:30 Opening of the art installations “re NDK”

“re NDK” is a campaign by the National Palace of Culture aimed at promoting recycling. It is part of an initiative of the Ministry for Environment and Water to reduce plastic use during the events of the Bulgarian Presidency. The start of the campaign is on 10 April at 15:00 in the National Palace of Culture, where three impressive art installations made of plastic waste will be opened. The installations are located in different areas of the building.

15:30 - 17:00 Session II: Better solutions for better implementation

Opening remarks by Dr Neno Dimov, Minister of the Environment and Water (streamed live)

Moderator: Mr Martin Nesbit, Head of Climate and Governance, Institute for European Environmental Policy

The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU recognises the importance of the proper implementation of EU law and has set better regulation as one of its key priorities. The discussion will aim to find workable solutions for improving environmental implementation. The ministers will discuss three main topics:

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  The existing tools for capacity building, including the Peer-to-Peer tool for exchange of good practices among Member States;
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  Cross-sectoral cooperation with a focus on the Clean Air Dialogues and the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) country dialogues; and
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  Streamlining reporting obligations and reducing the administrative burden.

The discussion will specifically emphasise the need for more coherence between sectoral legislation.

17:00 - 17:30 Press Conference

Participants:

Dr Neno Dimov, Minister of the Environment and Water

Mr Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

11 April 2018 | Wednesday

10:00 - 10:30 Arrivals at the National Palace of Culture

10:30 - 12:00 Session III: International Climate Negotiations and “Talanoa Dialogue” - the way forward

This session will be limited to Environment and Climate ministers of the European Union as well as the European Commission.

Opening remarks by Dr Neno Dimov, Minister of the Environment and Water (streamed live)

Moderator: Mr Julian Popov, Goodwill Ambassador on climate and energy for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU 2018 (UK/ Bulgaria)

2018 is a crucial year for reaching an agreement on the Paris Agreement Work Programme and ensuring that the parallel processes foreseen at the COP24, namely, the political phase of the Talanoa Dialogue, the pre-2020 stocktake and the high level event on climate finance are also successful and constructive. We need to refine our collective understanding of our essential demands and red lines and develop potential landing grounds.

Accreditation information

Accredited journalists can pick up their badges on Thursday, 5 April 2018 at the Registration Desk at Entrance B-2 of the National Palace of Culture between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Members of the press arriving in Sofia on the day of the event will be able to get their badges at the same entrance upon their arrival at the National Palace of Culture. Only accredited members of the press will have access to the National Palace of Culture.

Photos and videos

All media opportunities during the event (doorstep statements, handshake, roundtable, press conference) will be streamed live on the Website of the Bulgarian Presidency. Throughout the day, photos and videos will be uploaded in the Photo and Video sections of the Website. All official photos from the event are also available for download in high resolution on the Flickr account of the Bulgarian Presidency. Videos can be downloaded from Vimeo.

Press contacts

In Sofia: Veselin Jelev, [email protected], +359 883 990 247

In Brussels: Elitsa Zlateva, [email protected], +32 476 996 634