Foreign Investment & the Environment in Eastern Europe
Cleaning Up Is Hard To Do
By Lynda L. Maillet

As is well-known in the West, one of the darker legacies of communism has been the vast environmental degradation throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Under communism, what environmental laws existed had little noticeable effect; fines imposed had little effect on polluters when the money was paid from one pocket to the same pocket -- the state's. Pollution control equipment was frequently considered too expensive to install or to run, especially when managers and planners alike were more concerned with final production figures than with any pollution for which they personally were not responsible.

Laws have been passed on the national level in many of the East European countries and in the republics of the former Soviet Union stating clearly the need to reduce current pollutants and clean up old sites. However, the laws often leave the details of setting standards, monitoring, and fining polluters to lower levels of government which are frequently reluctant to implement any law which may cause harm to the local economy or discourage prospective investors. This situation is unlikely to continue unchallenged, particularly if these nations want to become members of the European Community, and East European countries will be under tremendous pressure to adopt the environmental standards of the EC....

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