In May 2004, a series of countries, most of them in Central and Eastern Europe, will become new member states of the EU. The institutional reforms necessary to cope with this enlargement of the EU are prescribed by The Treaty of Nice of 26 February 2001. This volume contains the papers discussed at a conference held at Brandenburg University of Technology, on the guidelines, instruments and programmes available to facilitate the accession of CEE countries to the EU, taking Poland as an example. The main topics of the conference were EC law, particularly EC administrative and environmental law and their incorporation into national law, organizational and administrative mechanisms necessary to carry out this process, as well as the latest EU development programmes for CEE accession countries.

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Session 1 EC Environmemtal Law and its Enforcement.- Instruments of European law and questions concerning their implementation at national level as exemplified by water law, immission control law and waste law.- Poland as an example for the harmonization of European law - the environmental and planning law requirements for the licensing of intensive animal farms.- The harmonization of Polish environmental protection law with European Union law.- The organizational and legal instruments available for harmonizing Polish environmental law with EC environmental law.- The EU Rural Development Programme and the accession process.- Public access to information on the environment and environmental law implementation - the new legislation in practice.- Development of ecological farming in Poland, other trends in food production and their prospects within the EU market.- Organizational and legal instruments available to public authorities for the protection of the environment.- Session 2 Experiences in Institution Building and Future Requirements for Reporting and Evaluation.- Transborder regions and administrative boundaries: institution building on the basis of common environmental values and its role in the enlargement of the EU.- The adoption of the acquis communautaire in environmental legislation in the accession countries - examples under German co-ordination.- Twinning as an instrument for implementing the principles of ecological planning in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.- Twinning - a challenge for both candidate countries and Member States.- Bulgaria's accession to the European Union.- Development of environmental education in Brandenburg - an assessment of financial support programmes and structures.- Landscape planning in Eastern Europe - an established instrument for nature protection in Germany and its potential as a model for regulating nature protection and landscape conservation in Central and Eastern Europe.