Tomáš Chalupa has been Minister of the Environment for a year

Press release: 17.01.2012

The Green Investment Scheme, poor air quality in the Moravian-Silesian Region and the new Act on the Šumava National Park – these were key topics resolved by Minister Tomáš Chalupa last year. He has headed the Ministry of the Environment for one year – since 17 January 2011.

“When Prime Minister Petr Nečas called and asked whether I would accept the position of Minister of the Environment, I had some idea of the sector but could not imagine what kind of issues I would have to immediately resolve. When I entered the office, I was faced with three main tasks – to get the Green Investment Scheme going again, to deal with smog in the Ostrava region and to resolve the dispute over the Šumava National Park. All these issues were characterised by very intense differences of opinion,” says Minister Tomáš Chalupa.

At the present time, the Ministry of the Environment is successfully progressing to a position where all the error-free applications that were submitted will be satisfied by the end of the Green Investment Scheme. More than ten and a half billion crowns had been paid to applicants at the end of last year; this corresponds to more than 50 thousand satisfied applicants. “In addition, the program is still in black figures and currently still has approx. 130 million crowns at its disposal. These will further be used in the framework of the Green Investment Scheme, for example for successful applicants from the area of public buildings,” says Minister Tomáš Chalupa.

The Ministry has introduced a number of measures to improve air quality and human health in the Moravian-Silesian Region and is preparing further measures to this end. The draft Air Protection Act, which the Government approved in July and is now undergoing the 2nd reading in the Chamber of Deputies, is of key importance. The draft introduces more effective instruments and optimises existing ones in the area of air protection. Together with the Moravian-Silesian Region, the Ministry has also prepared a programme to support replacement of existing manually-filled, solid-fuel heating units by new automatic low-emission heating units burning coal or coal and biomass in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The Ministry of the Environment Action Plan for the Moravian-Silesian Region for 2012 has been recently approved; the plan is targeted towards industry, households and a better environment for children in kindergartens and elementary schools.

The round-table discussions on the new Act on the Šumava National Park were successfully completed – a draft law is expected to enter the legislative process by the end of the month. This will be a fundamental document for the Šumava National Park and will lead to its stabilisation and contribute to its development.

“It is my ambition to head a Ministry that will work effectively and participate actively in improving the environment in the Czech Republic. I am glad that, during my term of office, we have managed to guide these three basic areas forward and find solutions or at least an outline of them. Of course, a number of issues and challenges remain for us to resolve in the future and I would like to see them through,” says Minister Chalupa.

The priorities for 2012 continue to be protection of the air, development of nature conservation and renewal of certification in the context of the Operational Program “Environment”. Last but not least, the Ministry will continue the process of effective restructuring of the Ministry and its sectoral organisations and also increasing the transparency of their activities.

Michaela Jendeková, tiskové oddělení MŽP