Informal Meeting of Water Directors of the European Union, Candidate and EFTA Countries
Inari, 30 November/1 December 2006
Informal Meeting of Water Directors
of the European Union, Candidate and EFTA Countries
Inari, 30 November /1 December 2006
Final Synthesis
Introduction
The Water Directors of the European Union[1] (EU), Candidate Countries[2] and EFTA Countries[3] met on 30 November and 1 December 2006 in Inari (Finland) in order to discuss, in particular:
· the progress of the Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive;
· the future Work Programme for the Common Implementation Strategy for the years 2007-2009;
· the developments on reporting and the Water Information System for Europe (WISE);
· the integration of water policy in other policy areas, in particular agriculture policy and hydromorphology;
· the aspects of water scarcity and climate change in relation to water policy.
In addition, the Water Directors were informed on the progress regarding the following points:
· the EU Marine Strategy;
· the EU Flood Action Programme;
· the reporting aspects regarding other water directives, in particular the Urban Waste Water Treatment.
· the new Daughter Directive for groundwater and the proposal for a Directive on priority substances and
· the progress on the EU Water Initiative, in particular the components for the ECCAA and MED regions.
The present note summarises the main elements discussed, and the agreements reached, during the Water Directors meeting. The agenda of the meeting is presented in Annex 1, the list of participants is presented in Annex 2.
Outcome of the Meeting
Part 1: Implementation of the Water Framework Directive
Agenda Item 1: State of the transposition and implementation
The Commission (DG Environment) presented the updated scoreboard[4] on the legal transposition and implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Moreover, the Commission informed the Water Directors on the preliminary examples and results for the first official implementation report in accordance with Article 18 WFD. The Commission will publish the report on 22 March 2007.
The early results on key issues and performance show the achievements but also gaps in the current implementation. The Commission intends to present some recommendations to Member States for improvements until 2009, the finalisation of the river basin management plans. Recognising that this will be the main milestone for judging the implementation success, the Commission is committed to continue work with the Member States in a cooperative partnership. The Commission invited the Water Directors to participate at the European Water Conference on 22/23 March 2007 in Brussels.
Bulgaria informed the Water Directors that transposition, Art. 3 and 5 reports have been completed and were sent to the Commission in time. Bulgaria would expect that they will be included in the Commission’s implementation report.
The Water Directors welcomed and took note of the presentation.
Agenda Item 2: Common Implementation Strategy (CIS)
Agenda item 2.1: General progress
The progress report June-November 2006 was presented by the Commission. Regarding the explorative Cost-Benefit Analysis on WFD implementation the European Commission is currently carrying out, it was suggested to have a presentation and discussion on the results at the next Water Directors’ meeting.
It was highlighted that the documents presented to the Strategic Coordination Group (SCG) on the State of Environment Reporting will be combined with the documents currently under preparation. Therefore, the titles should be adapted to ´towards a guidance document´ and other clarifications should be introduced as agreed on the SCG.
The Water Directors took note of the report by the Commission and welcomed the progress made by all working groups and activities.
Agenda item 2.2: Intercalibration process
The Commission presented the state of play of the intercalibration exercise. There have been no changes to the calendar supported at the last Water Directors’ meeting in Salzburg and this is still the basis of the Committee work. The publication of the results is envisaged in three parts: the results of the exercise, guidelines for application and interpretation of the results and a technical report. All three pieces of information should be clearly linked.
Some legal work is still needed to clarify the legal basis for the publication of the results. Current developments to align the Directive to the new Committee procedures (regulatory procedure with scrutiny) will have to be taken into account in deciding the format of publication of the results. The Commission will come back to the next WFD Committee meeting on this issue.
In any case, no matter what the format of publication is, the WFD obliges Member States to apply the results.
Agenda item 2.3: Groundwater Monitoring Guidance
The Commission presented the final guidance on groundwater monitoring. The document will be an important contribution to the implementation of the new Groundwater Directive.
The Water Directors endorsed the document.
Agenda item 2.4: Environmental objectives/exemptions – document on Article 4.7
The Commission presented the final document on the application of Article 4.7 which deals with the assessment of impacts of new projects to ensure their compatibility with the WFD.
The Water Directors endorsed the document and expressed their appreciation for the work carried out by the group. The Commission requested everyone to be vigilant in the application of this article since there is an increasing number of projects brought to the attention of the Commission which do not or not correctly apply this provision.
Agenda item 3: Integration aspects
Agenda item 3.1: WFD and Agriculture
UK presented the declaration and the synthesis report of the activity. The Water Directors of the EU25 Member States, with the exception of Denmark, endorsed the declaration with the amendments suggested by NL (see Annex 3). The Finnish Presidency intends to put forward the declaration to the Member States Ministries and it was suggested to have an information point for the December Environment Council and for the Agriculture Council. In addition, DG ENV will put forward the declaration to DG AGRI.
The Commission stressed the importance of cross-compliance for the long-term. Practical (feasible and controlled) measures will have to be designed. Germany stressed the importance for the future of the impacts on water resources of the biomass strategy. This point is addressed in the mandate for the continuation of the activity.
The synthesis report was also endorsed by the Water Directors. The report on pressures and impacts was presented for information. The Water Directors appreciated the report as an important background document and took note of its content.
The Water Directors were informed that Sweden will invite to a Ministerial meeting with agriculture and environment ministers from countries around the Baltic Sea. The meeting will take place in Sweden between 19-20 April 2007.
Agenda item 3.2: WFD and Hydromorphology
The Commission and Germany presented the policy and the technical papers, respectively.
France highlighted that an addition to the technical report (annex II conclusions, new point 6.5) was already agreed at the SCG but had not been included in the final version yet. The technical report was amended accordingly.
The Water Directors endorsed both documents and welcomed the work carried out.
During the discussion, the Water Directors highlighted some issues in relation to sediment management. On one hand, the Netherlands re-iterated its statement from the last meeting where the interaction between the WFD and the proposed Waste Framework Directive is still under negotiation regarding sediments. On the other hand, the issue of whether sediment quality and management should be addressed in the CIS process was raised. It was underlined that sediment-related pollution problems are not caused by hydromorphological alterations. It was agreed that the SCG should discuss the aspect again on the basis of a report from the recent SEDNET conference in Venice.
The Water Directors were informed about the Workshop on WFD and Hydropower jointly organised by DE, UK and AT on 4/5 June 2007 in Berlin.
Agenda item 4: Reporting and WISE
Agenda item 4.a: Overview of recent developments
The Commission (Unit ENV D.2) informed the Water Directors about the progress and next steps on compliance reporting Water Information System for Europe (WISE). The main activity of the Reporting Working Group is the preparation of the 2010 RBMP Reporting Guidance which will be presented to the next meeting of the Water Directors for endorsement.
On WISE, the submission of Article 3 and 5 reports has progressed and the Commission thanked the Member States for the contribution and support. Those Member States which did not (re-) submit the reports electronically to WISE were still welcome to do so. Regarding the tools for the electronic submission of Art. 8 Reports, they would become available in January 2007 and will be presented on the next WISE workshop on 9/10 January.
Finally, the proposal to prepare a new WISE GIS guidance was presented which will be part of the new Work Programme.
Agenda item 4.b: SoE reporting and WISE public launch
European Environment Agency (EEA) presented the current prototype for the WISE public viewer which will be launched on 22 March 2007. In addition, the EEA informed the Water Directors on the current discussion on the preparation of the State-of-Environment (SoE) Reporting guidance. During the discussion, it was highlighted that the relationship between the compliance and SoE data should be further clarified in the future. Furthermore, it was stressed that the water-related indicators used for EEA assessment need to be further clarified, in particular as regards their relationship to the national assessments.
Agenda item 4.c: WISE-RTD presentation
The Netherlands introduced the issue of cooperation between the water policy makers and research. Continued efforts should be made to fully exploit synergies.
On behalf of the HarmoniCA project, the Commission presented the prototype of the WISE-RTD portal which will be a gateway to access information on water-related projects with relevance to the WFD. The Water Directors were invited to send comments to the developers. The WISE-RTD portal will be launched together with WISE on 22 March 2007.
The Water Directors took note of all the reports under agenda item 4.
Agenda item 5: Future under the CIS Work Programme 2007-2009
The Commission presented briefly the new work programme which consists of a summary document and a number of specific mandates for working groups and activities. These mandates will become an annex of the work programme summary.
The Commission highlighted that for most mandates there are no more open issues. The only activity for which no final proposal was agreed on the SCG was the one on water scarcity and droughts which aims to complement the Stakeholder Forum established by the Commission (see agenda item 9). During the discussion, a compromise text on the mandate was agreed and is presented in Annex 4.
Moreover, the summary document had to be amended in the light of the compromise on water scarcity and droughts. In addition, some minor open issues were raised in relation to the mandates for WG E (priority substances), WG F (floods) and the chemical monitoring activity. The agreed amendments to the presented texts are enclosed (Annex 5).
The Water Directors stressed that the review of the eutrophication guidance should be carried out as soon as possible, preferably before the date mentioned in the mandate with the view to provide needed input, e.g. to the Baltic Sea Ministerial Meeting (see above). However, it was recognised that this is dependent on the relevant data and information being available in time.
The Water Directors endorsed the future Work Programme for the Common Implementation Strategy as amended above and thanked the working groups, activities and the SCG for the good preparatory work.
Part 2 – Implementation of other water directives
Agenda item 6: Implementation of other water directives
Agenda item 6.a: Urban waste water treatment directive
The Commission presented an overview of the recent progress in relation to the implementation of the Directive on Urban Waste Water Treatment (UWWT). In particular, the Commission highlighted the positive developments on the work on reporting which were based on the agreements on the last Water Directors’ meeting. The Commission is confident that outstanding issues can be resolved on the next meeting and that the questionnaire can be sent out in early 2007 together with the supporting documents (in particular the concept paper).
The Water Directors took note of the report and welcome the progress since the last meeting.
The issue of phosphates in detergents was also raised and the current developments in relation to the review of this issue in the EU Detergents Regulation were mentioned. Several Member States highlighted the importance of the issue for water quality in the light of their national (mandatory or voluntary) bans. The Water Directors were invited to provide the Commission with any information which is relevant for the review process.
Agenda item 6.b: Drinking and Bathing water directives
The Commission presented an overview of the recent progress in relation to the implementation of the drinking water and the bathing water directives.
Part 3 – Council business
Agenda item 7: Flood risk management (information point)
The Finnish Presidency presented briefly the progress in Council. The Council adopted the Common position on 23 November in accordance with the common understanding achieved under the Austrian Presidency on 27 June. The Parliament will proceed with the second reading in December. The German Presidency will be conducting the negotiations with the Parliament in 2007.
The Commission briefly reported on the progress on the other components of the Flood Action Programme, including flood-related measures being eligible under all relevant EU funding instruments such as Cohesion Fund, Regional Development Fund and Rural Development Funds.
France informed about the state-of-play on the work on flood forecasting (EXCIFF) and flood risk mapping (EXCIMAP). The first document on how to deliver information to the public was presented and will be published soon. It was clarified that the documents will not be guidance documents but overview document on good practices.
It was agreed that future work would be done jointly with WMO. EXCIMAP will complete the overview of good practices in mapping and it will be published in 2007. Future work should focus on vulnerability assessment.