The third meeting of the monitoring committee of the Operational Programme for the Development of the Living Environment (OPDLE) reviewed activities involving the implementation of structural resources in 2007 and summarised the plans for 2008. The committee also approved the OPDLE’s annual report for 2007 at the meeting. The European Commission approved the Operational Programme for the Development of the Living Environment on 9 October 2007. At the same time as submitting the programme to the European Commission in spring 2007 the ministries began preparing for the implementation of the structural resources. Annika Uudelepp, the director of the OPDLE monitoring committee and the Chancellor with the Ministry of the Environment, says that 2007 was a year of intense preparations for the implementation of the resources. “This year is set to be a real challenge for the ministries charged with the task of implementing the programme, because the measures related to the structural resources will actually need to be launched as part of it,” she explained. At the meeting of the monitoring committee all of the ministries involved in the implementation of the programme reviewed the activities carried out in 2007 to prepare for and launch the measures and those measured already implemented. Observers from the European Commission also attended the monitoring committee meeting. Alain Rogger, the director of the Estonia, Finland and Latvia division of the commission’s Regional Policy Directorate-General, says that the European Commission is pleased to see that structural support is being implemented in Estonia more promptly. “There are some very good projects in the preparation stages that will enable the resources which have been provided to be used with maximum efficiency,” he said. The OPDLE monitoring committee is made up of representatives of ministries involved in the implementation of the programme and those from non-governmental socio-economic partner organisations. The committee’s task is to monitor the use of structural aid, assessing whether the implementation of the programme has been effective and influential, and making proposals for its amendment where necessary. The Operational Programme for the Development of the Living Environment is a document which sets out the European Union’s priorities in the implementation of structural support for the development of infrastructure in the environmental and nature conservation, energy, regional development, vocational and interest-based education, health care and social welfare fields from 2007 to 2013. The funds being provided as part of the programme during this period come to a total of more than 25 billion kroons. For further information please contact:
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