ALBANIA

• Deforestation: wood is being cut by the population for fuel and by foreign companies for, amongst other things, furniture and Christmas trees.
• Soil erosion: privatization in agriculture has led to the carving up land into smaller divisions. To enlarge the arable surface, terraces are being built into the hillsides. Together with deforestation it is a source of enormous soil erosion.
• Municipal waste: the amount is growing in the cities and no suitable systems for collection and disposal exist.
• Water pollution: drinking water supplies are seriously threatened by the complete lack of sewage treatment facilities.
• Nature protection: the Albanian people, as well as Albanian and foreign companies are exploiting nature for fishing, hunting, fuel wood, and export products. Tourism is a possible threat to coastal nature.

BULGARIA

• Water pollution from industrial and domestic sources (wastewater treatment facilities do not exist or do not operate properly), and low groundwater supplies.
• Air pollution from heat and power generation based on the burning of low quality coal, as well as increasing automobile emissions.
• Soil pollution from metalworks (heavy metals) and pesticides.
• Radioactivity risk from mines and the unsafe nuclear power plant.
• Solid waste management (there is an influx of disposable packaging from the west and a complete lack of adequate disposal facilities).
• Transboundary air and water pollution from neighboring countries.
• Hotspots severely contaminated by industrial facilities.

CROATIA

• Air pollution (transportation, energy production).
• Some underground water resources, especially in the Karst area, are polluted due to inadequate wastewater treatment plants.
• Drinking water quality.
• Waste (management in most cities, disposal, and import).
• Hotspots (industrial areas).
• The growth of polluting industries (i.e. cement, incinerators, waste management) is lacking legislative regulation.

CZECH REPUBLIC

• Areas where human health is endangered, primarily industrial centers and big cities due to air pollution.
• Cleaning up Northern Bohemia.
• The energy issue must be addressed so that it is compatible with environmental objectives.
• Most of the experts preferred not to prioritize specific environmental problems along media lines but rather stressed the need for a methodological, comprehensive approach for the different media.
• Addressing the increasing production of waste and waste management/minimisation (industrial and domestic origin).

HUNGARY

• Ground and surface waters polluted by the excessive use of fertilizers, hazardous waste, and improperly treated sewage.
• Air pollution from power plants, the chemical industry, low emissions and automobiles.
• Soil contamination at abandoned former Soviet military bases.
• Hotspots include the Sajo Valley, the Transdanubian industrial region and Budapest.

Problems having priority are related to danger to human health: urban air quality, drinking water, waste management (e.g. new disposal sites, incinerators), food safety.

FYR MACEDONIA

• Water problems were most often mentioned by the experts as priority issues. Surface waters are contaminated by domestic, agricultural and especially industrial pollution. Groundwater supplies are low and dropping due to the drought of recent years.
• Air quality was the next most mentioned problem. Emissions of SO₂ from power plants and homes burning low quality coal, and heavy metal emissions from metalworking facilities were cited as serious issues.
• Deforestation resulting from illegal cutting, the drought of recent years, and fires encouraged by these droughts, was another issue cited.
• Problems related to waste, both communal and industrial, were also mentioned as being priorities.

POLAND

• Air pollution: most important pollutants are NOx and SO2 emitted by industry, automobiles and coal burning home furnaces. Transboundary pollutants from the Czech Republic and especially Germany are also major concerns.
• Water pollution: surface water is polluted by domestic, agricultural and industrial sources. Ground water level is dropping. Drinking water supply is threatened in several places.
• Accumulation of municipal and hazardous waste because of growing amount of disposable packaging and lack of sound waste management system. There is a growing need for recycling programs.
• Two important hot spots in Poland, the Silesia region and the Black Triangle region.

ROMANIA

• Water pollution, primarily from industrial but also domestic sources.
• Nature protection and loss of biodiversity (restoration of ecologically damaged areas).
• Air pollution .
• Problems associated with solid and hazardous waste.
• Environmental hazard areas (14 "hotspots" have been identified as being severely effected ).
• Economic and political instability was mentioned by several experts as being the primary cause of the environmental problems.

SLOVAK REPUBLIC

• Air pollution (mainly from industry and transportation).
• Water pollution (industrial and municipal waste water treatment is lacking).
• Waste (abatement technology in incinerators; waste import).
• Problems related to planned construction of power plants (nuclear and hydro).
• Health impacts on the population.
• Health conditions of Slovak forests.

SLOVENIA

• Air pollution due to industrial activities, heating, traffic, and weather conditions (winter inversions).
• Hazardous, solid and nuclear waste problems due to lack of regulations and proper management.
• Transport: There is the danger that Slovenia is becoming a transit country due to restrictions on transit in Austria and Switzerland, and pressure from Italy. Planned highways are endangering protected zones and fertile agricultural areas.
• Energy policy, with selection of sources, needs to be established. Options include: natural gas, nuclear power, hydropower and other alternative energy sources, or zero growth of energy production with sanitation of power plants and energy efficiency programs.