Csaba Borboly, President of Harghita County Council and CoR rapporteur, supports the introduction of an infringement procedure against EU countries that do not seriously consider compensation for damage caused by large carnivores to livestock or crops

Csaba Borboly, president of Harghita County Council and rapporteur of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) for the draft opinion on ”Biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe – challenges and opportunities for local and regional authorities”, supports, among other things, the introduction of an infringement procedure in European legislation against countries that do not take seriously the compensation of damage caused by large carnivores to livestock or crops.

At a local dialogue organised by Harghita County Council and the CoR on 8 March in Miercurea-Ciuc, Csaba Borboly discussed the need to strengthen EU action for a European policy on large carnivores, underlining the transnational nature of the issue of harmonious coexistence with these animals and calling for sustained efforts at European, national, regional and local level to find new ways for the sustainable and safe coexistence of farm animals, humans and large terrestrial, marine and flying carnivores.

Borboly stressed that dialogue with the European institutions is essential to promote these concerns at the European decision-making level. In addition to ongoing negotiations with the European Commission and the European Parliament, he said, regional and local authorities must be actively involved in the process of developing specific solutions. He also stressed the importance of supporting politicians who back these initiatives and underlined the desire to create a platform at the regional level in Harghita County to develop specific solutions.

“With the report, we are in permanent negotiations with the representatives of the European Commission, here I am referring first of all to the Directorate General for Environment where there is a department for biodiversity, and, besides, to the European Parliament where we try to support with arguments the work of the MEPs who support us, and at home we would like to achieve the creation of a regional platform for large carnivores in Harghita County in the framework of the new European platform for large carnivores, where we can elaborate specific solutions. We also hope that the Government and Parliament will consider these things, and in parallel, there are several analyses and studies on what is not working and how we could improve things, and we are trying to formulate amendments to the legislation. Then we go further to the European Union level, where we have the opportunity to present the report when there are preparatory discussions for the decision-making act, then we can regularly present it at the European big platform meetings and at several public policy debates. Now we have Hungary coming up for the EU Presidency in the summer and if the Hungarian Presidency finds the issue important enough to put it on the agenda, then we will most likely have better results. These are the directions we can take”, said the President of Harghita County Council, CoR rapporteur.

He also highlighted the need for a more coherent and coercive approach at the European level in terms of compliance with biodiversity conservation and habitat protection legislation. He stressed that the lack of enforcement levers in international legislation makes it difficult to implement and comply with these rules, insisting on the need to find effective ways to monitor and sanction Member States that do not fulfill their obligations.

“As I said, on many levels we are moving forward and so far we have been able to solve many things at home, for some we have also had political decisions and regulations, for others we have not. I don’t follow that path – what would happen if we didn’t do anything? – we are moving forward. What has changed from the previous report is that we have included a provision saying that it is not okay if a Member State does not take citizens’ problems seriously. There is a new element in this report, to see if we get support from Brussels to launch an infringement procedure against those states that are not serious about providing compensation and solving the whole problem. Because I have worked with many ministers here, all of whom were well-meaning, but somehow in Parliament, here and there, on the stairs of the Academy, some things got bogged down, not all of them, but some of them, and we see that if there is infringement for waste management and everyone takes the position of the righteous, the mayors are fined for things they did not do, or for waste dumps that were there for who knows when; if there is infringement for air, for water, then we need this infringement procedure on this subject too. I believe that the international legislative framework is not complete here, and there is no coercive leverage. We have levers, what species are protected, and how to protect them, but for Articles 14 and 16, for habitats, for ensuring they are respected, for ensuring that human life and health come first, we do not have any levers. This is why I am saying this, when we also have elections for the European Parliament and this is why I wanted to have this debate and I hope that the two representatives of the RMDSZ in the European Parliament will take up this issue”, explained Csaba Borboly.

Finally, Borboly expressed the hope that through sustained efforts at European level and the active involvement of local and regional stakeholders, it will be possible to find appropriate solutions to a complex problem such as the harmonious coexistence of humans, domestic animals, and large carnivores, thus contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of the interests of local communities.

“The mills are working slowly to solve this problem. Let’s hope that the Environment Ministry and Brussels will be more courageous on this issue. At the moment I don’t see a better solution for this, than just to work together, to collect data, because I see that things are getting simpler ‘to shoot or not to shoot’; if we stick to this it all gets bogged down. If we simplify things to protected-unprotected status again, things get stuck again. There are many facts that people don’t know because we don’t have data. We know how many birds there are at European level, but we don’t know how many bears, and we could list the rest of the things, the compensation, etc. In 2028 the new funding period starts at the EU level, there will be a lot of opportunities, but there is no point in going for separate money for large carnivores then because it is late. Now a solution is being prepared and at these events we attend I see that many geese beat a pig and somehow we have to put our opinion forward in the European Union”, concluded the President of the CJ Harghita and CoR rapporteur.

The event “Biodiversity protection and coexistence with large carnivores in Europe – Challenges and opportunities for local and regional authorities”, held in Miercurea-Ciuc, brought together numerous speakers and addressed various topics related to biodiversity conservation and the relationship with large carnivores.

During the first part of the dialogue, European perspectives were discussed, with presentations and debates given by key figures such as Csaba Borboly, President of Harghita County Council, László Csák, expert, and Robert Zeman from the European Committee of the Regions. Other notable participants were MEP Herbert Dorfmann and Dr Miklós Heltai, Director of the MATE Wildlife Management Institute.

The second part of the dialogue focused on the situation in Romania and Harghita County, with presentations by officials such as Gabriel Oltean, Ministerial Advisor, and specialists such as Dr. Róbert Szép from the Research and Development Institute for Wildlife Management and Mountain Resources. Also included were perspectives from civil society, represented by Levente Miklós and Hadnagy Lehel.

The dialogue also included video messages from Professor Dr. Ovidiu Ionescu and Dr. Valeria Salvatore, who made important contributions related to the presentation of the Harghita County Regional Platform.

Moderated by journalist Dan Cărbunaru, the event focused on bringing together local and regional authorities, scientific experts and other stakeholders to share experiences and ideas on biodiversity conservation and coexistence with large carnivores, taking into account the Romanian legislative context. Professional presentations and networking sessions resulted in a better understanding of current challenges and possible solutions, as well as the creation of new connections and exchange of ideas among participants.

Source: www.caleaeuropaena.ro