One of the famous Czech eco-philosophers in his book Shock from Ecology said that in former socialist countries the basic idea of socialism — solidarity — was "privatized" by a select group of prominent individuals. As a matter of fact solidarity was reduced to the family level; individuals were trying to take as much as possible from "common property". Therefore any attempt to return this solidarity to society would be understood as "an extreme of socially unacceptable behavior."

 

J. Keller, 1996

In socialist times, people acted predominantly on the basis of individual benefit without any need for communication or co-operation. Among other problems connected with economic decline, countries of the former communist block had to deal also with the revitalization of such deformed behaviour in society. Thus the question of new policies is not simply a matter of theoretical knowledge from the West and of their application to the national policies.

The inefficient policy instruments and incapability of the command and control (CAC) approach to decision making was a key contributor to the weakness of the environmental policy of the past regime. Decision making was done by political representation and based upon ideological or political symbolism, rather than upon economic criteria. Environmental decision making was limited mostly to a supplementary position in planning documents with very low flexibility and ability to influence the decision making process.

Political changes in 1989 and the consequent economic transformation have enabled changes in the environmental policies of the Slovak Republic. The Ministry of the Environment, was established in 1990, and the Governmental Environmental Policy, the National Environmental Action Plan and several other documents and legal acts followed. Since any modern environmental policy is substantially connected with economic efficiency and the democratic decision making process, Slovak environmental policy has shifted towards the principle that "the polluter pays" and the public now participates in the decision making process.

In this context major legal changes and several new instruments have been implemented for a new environmental decision making process, shifting Slovak environmental policy from regulation towards incentives.

The most essential missing aspect in the former command and control approach was collective bargaining and consensus building, just as the major missing factor in the former regime was public involvement. Efficient public participation plays a vital role in the successful transformation of environmental policy towards efficiency and democracy.

In this context several new steps have been taken toward a new environmental decision making process. Specifically, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIA) was adopted by the Slovak Republic on September 1, 1994. The purpose of the law is to provide a total technical and public evaluation of plans with a view to minimizing the environmental damage entailed by alternate solutions. The law determines the rules of this public participation with special emphasis on supporting democratic and transparent decision making. Civil associations and initiatives representing the public could be created within the framework of the EIC. Under this law the public becomes one of the parties of the assessment process and the whole assessment process is provided as a comparison of alternative scenarios. However, it does not require an evaluation of the economic impact, and thus the efficiency of the alternatives is not taken into the consideration. Under the Slovak EIA law there is no right to appeal against the final decision within the EIA procedure, but only through the administrative procedure.

The basic rights of public participation are granted by the Constitution adopted by the National Council of the Slovak Republic in 1992 and by the Act of Basic Rights and Freedoms. According to these, citizens have the right to a healthy environment, to expression, to information, to free assembly, to association, and to petition. Public participation is also established by separate laws like the Act of Assembly Right, the Act of Association Right and the Act of Referendum.

The public of the Slovak Republic does not have the right to initiate legislation and to make rules directly. Under the Constitution only Committees of the National Council, Members of the Parliament and the Government may propose legislation to the National Council. The General Law of the Environment has several rather general provisions about access to information and participation. The law on the Municipality System grants citizens the right to participate in local decision making through voting for their local authorities and directly through public meetings. Citizens of the municipality have a right to vote in local referenda on important issues concerning community life as the mode of direct citizen participation to influence decisions in local issues.

Nor is standing very well developed in Slovakia; in practice, only affected parties or parties that prove an interest have this right, though there are some exceptions (EIA law). Another possibility is provided by administrative law and procedure. The administrative process, which involves decision making by administrative, as opposed to judicial, organs is the usual means for resolving matters of conflict regarding environmental law and protection. The administrative law has only subsidiary force; other laws may contain specific administrative provisions that supersede administrative law in related cases (Planning and Building, for instance). In the Slovak Republic there is no law guaranteeing access to information or freedom of information, though a draft has been prepared. There are decision making elements also within several other legal instruments: The Environmental Permit and Licensing Process, The Waste Law, The Clean Air Act, The Water Law, the Act on Land Use, Planning and Building Rules, etc.

The major legal accomplishment is a quite developed legislative framework for environmental decision making. On the other hand, implementation and law enforcement are still ineffective. Citizens as individuals are not very active in environmental decision making. Generally there is a lack of interest in public matters and quite a deal of apathy toward becoming involved in community life. The reasons flow partly from the command and control policies of the past, and partly from a lack of awareness and skills in the new democratic decision making process. But also they result from an underdeveloped institutional background and public society. The command and control approach still is frequently used by powerful parties involved in the conflict. The relationship between the government and NGOs in general has been one of opposition during the past years and has been far from satisfactory. There exist no proper channels for dialogue; exchange of information in general is based mostly on personal contacts. In this respect the operation of the information law is critical, for access to information is not transparent for the public, non-governmental organizations or research institutions.

Decisions are taken mostly on administrative initiative, without sufficient involvement by all the parties involved. Any involvement of the public or other interested parties not presently in power takes place only in the later phases of the planning process when detailed proposals already exist and certain political preferences and interests are present and even invested in.

An example is the environmental financing system. Environmental goods are defined as nonexclusive and non-competitive, thereby constituting a substantial part of the public sector. As a matter of fact the democratic decision-making process should be transparent and accessible to the public. The principle that "the polluter pays" followed by most OECD countries has been adopted in the Slovak environmental policy. The costs of reducing ongoing pollution and meeting regulatory requirements are regarded as the responsibility of the polluter. At the same time the recovery process in CEE countries cannot take full advantage of this principle. Here, financing via the environmental fund can serve as a compromise.

In order to change the present situation of tense relationships, it is essential to establish different forms of regular contacts and dialogue on national as well as on regional and local levels. The commitment of the central and local governmental authorities needs to be strengthened in capacity-building activities as well as open participation and involvement by interested parties in the early stages of the planning activities.

There is a strong need also to implement the economic dimension in the environmental decision making process of the Slovak Republic; however systematic application is in jeopardy. Instruments that potentially could be employed vary according to governmental regulations, market instruments as marketable permits, green taxes or other economic instruments. The fundamental condition for their effective application is economic efficiency. There also is considerable need to implement new decision making methods. Traditional cost benefit analysis, involving a systematic evaluation of the costs and benefits of health, safety and environmental control measures is one possibility. It examines alternatives, including market-based approaches, and assesses the distribution of costs and benefits (i.e., who pays and who gains).

In recent years several methods of efficient and democratic decision making based on the holistic and interdisciplinary concept of stakeholders has been developed. Economic aspects and public participation are linked in the early stage of the analysis. One example is "positional analysis" (PA), an economic decision making instrument. Under PA all decisions are taken according to a matching procedure, where the specific set of alternatives chosen represents the starting point for the entire process. Another example is "dynamic systems modelling" based on three basic criteria: realism, precision and generality. The main concept is to produce a very simplified highly general model and progress towards a more realistic and highly precise model where all stakeholders are involved in planning from the beginning of the decision making process. The whole concept is applicable to natural parks or to very complex natural ecosystems, as well as to complicated industrial technological processes.

1. There are several other public funds, such as The State Fund of the Forest Improvement, Agriculture Fund, etc., but they are not under the Ministry of the Environment and priority is given to other development projects.

Kluvánková, T. "Environmental Financing System in the Slovak Republic and State Environmental Fund Reform". The Journal of Economics (Slovak Academy of Sciences, 1996).

The Ministry of the Environment (1997); "Assistance to the Environmental Revolving Fund" in Slovak Republic, PHARE, EU/94/RV/28, Final Report.

The Regional Environmental Center, (1995); "The Status of Public Participation Practices in Environmental Decision Making in Central and Eastern Europe". The Regional Environmental Center for CEE, 1995.