We have a lot of strategies adopted in recent years, but in practice what happens is that there are always fires that need to be put out in Romanian politics and public administration, the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, Diana Buzoianu, stated on Thursday.
'I am quite often invited to speak about sustainability, about sustainable development, and each time people somehow expect us to have a magic wand with which to outline the ministry's vision. We have a lot of strategies, plans that have been adopted over the past few years. In theory, the vision should by now have been clear to everyone. In practice, however, what happens is that there are always fires that need to be put out in Romanian politics and public administration, situations arise that are then deemed priorities over such strategies. And so, every month, we end up discussing how to tweak the plans we have adopted, how to slightly alter the strategies we have adopted. Those of you here in the room are the ones most affected by this, because you are the ones making long-term investments, committing capital and human and financial resources in order to manage the plans and strategies adopted by ministries and the Government. You do not devise strategies from one month to the next depending on the Government,' Buzoianu said at a conference on sustainable development.
She added that things which work well should not be changed, but improved, citing as an example the RetuRo Deposit-Return System.
'I called in RetuRo and asked: Do you have the capacity to expand?' The answer was yes, but we need a little time to carry out some studies. We gave them that time to conduct studies, because it seemed far better than the ministry stepping in and telling them that from tomorrow we will include jars, or that the day after tomorrow we will include cosmetic packaging,' the Environment Minister explained.
In her view, Romania's problem is not that it lacks reasonably good legislation or that it is missing strategies or plans, but that whenever implementation has been attempted, 'someone has made a phone call and asked for an exemption'.
'There has never been a moment in the history of the planet when someone has said that the most important thing is sustainable development. Because, more often than not, immediate crises take precedence, both in terms of resources and attention. The role of the Ministry of Environment is to bring a degree of stability and predictability, and to look 20-30 years ahead, making even long-term policies a priority,' Diana Buzoianu stressed.
The National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2030, the circular economy, and the role of technology and digitalisation in implementing sustainability policies are among the topics discussed at the 'Competitive Sustainability Summit - Strategy. Resilience. Growth. Community', organised on Thursday in Bucharest.
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