VMRO‑DPMNE rejects Levica amendments to the Environment Law

VMRO‑DPMNE blocked key amendments proposed by Levica to the draft Environment Law after rejecting Levica’s demand to remove the bill from the agenda. The decisions were taken at the Committee on Transport, Digital Transformation, Environment and Spatial Planning, where most of Levica’s proposals failed to win support.

Levica's safeguards turned down, one change accepted

Among the measures rejected was Levica’s bid to keep a prohibition on the reconstruction of heavy, polluting industry within five kilometres of populated areas and protected natural sites. By voting against deleting Article 2 of the draft law, the majority left open the possibility that existing industrial capacities could be upgraded, expanded or rebranded as a form of "reconstruction," a course Levica says risks public health.

Levica submitted a package of amendments that sought to tighten environmental protections and strengthen public participation. Those proposals included:

• Keeping a ban on reconstruction of G1‑installations at distances less than five kilometres from settlements and protected natural areas.
• Guaranteeing public participation in approval of environmental reports, with the right to public inspection, submission of comments and appeal against decisions.
• Preventing the shortening of the appeal period from 15 to eight days, which would make it harder for citizens and environmental organisations to challenge harmful projects.
• Enabling substantive public consultations on environmental impact assessment studies, with adequate timeframes and mandatory involvement of competent institutions, and ensuring silence by authorities cannot be treated as consent.
• Requiring cumulative impact assessments that consider new projects together with existing and planned capacities instead of evaluating pollution and ecosystem pressure in isolation.
• Ensuring the public is informed in a timely manner about projects affecting the environment, including via official institutional social media profiles.

Only one of Levica’s proposals was accepted: the amendment to delete Article 13 of the draft law. That change prevented the removal of the existing legal framework for remediation of environmental hot spots.

Levica and critics say the committee votes demonstrate that, instead of strengthening protections for citizens, the authorities rejected measures that would have imposed stricter limits on polluting industry, increased transparency and improved access to justice. They warned that citizens continue to bear the consequences of polluted air, toxic waste and industrial dumping while large capital interests are protected.

Photo: press material from the event