Implementation of the EU water legislation

7.12.2020

Question for oral answer  O-000077/2020
to the Council
Rule 136
Christophe Hansen, Sara Cerdas, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Marco Dreosto, Martin Häusling, Joanna Kopcińska, Malin Björk, Eleonora Evi
on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

The Parliament welcomes the Commission’s conclusion that the Water Framework Directive[1] (WFD) is fit for purpose, yet considers that its implementation needs to be improved and speeded up. Even though the WFD has been successful in setting up a governance framework for integrated water management for hundreds of thousands of bodies of water in the EU, in slowing down the deterioration of water status and in reducing chemical pollution, less than half of EU’s bodies of water are classified as being in good status in spite of the 2015 deadline. Moreover, only one out of the four freshwater indicators has shown progress over the last 10-15 years, and there have been a number of issues related to the implementation of the water legislation, largely due to the inadequate funding and insufficient integration of environmental objectives into sectoral policies. In this context, we would welcome answers from the Council to the following questions:

• 1.How will the Council incorporate the conclusions of the recent fitness check of the water legislation, and what concrete action will the Council and Member States take to ensure that the environmental objectives of the WFD are achieved as soon as possible, and by 2027 at the latest?
• 2.Given that one of the main issues in achieving the objectives of the legislation has been insufficient funding, how will the Member States secure the necessary funding to implement the measures needed for European waters to achieve good status?
• 3.How will the Member States improve the integration of the Directives’ environmental objectives in sectoral policies, particularly in the agricultural, energy and transport sectors?
• 4.The fitness check identified considerable variations in the implementation of the Directives between the Member States, for example in relation to the pollutants monitored and the thresholds established in the Groundwater Directive[2]. How will the Member States seek to achieve a more harmonious implementation?
• 5.Does the Council consider that sufficient funding for the WFD has been allocated in the recent proposal for the multiannual financial framework?
• 6.What additional measures will Member States take in order to achieve the full implementation of the recovery of the costs of water services (Article 9 WFD), particularly regarding the full application of the user pays and the polluter pays principles?
• 7.How are Member States planning to reduce the use of exemptions to the WFD in the third cycle of river basin management plans?

Submitted: 07/12/2020

Lapses: 08/03/2021

• [1] Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1.
• [2] Directive 2006/118/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration, OJ L 372, 27.12.2006, p. 19.