Water policy battle in pipeline

Date: 08/02/1996

By Michael Mann

CONTROVERSIAL plans for an integrated EU water policy will face their first major hurdle in the coming weeks.

While no one doubts the wisdom of coordinating what has always been a highly-fragmented policy in a framework directive, few are under any illusion that the proposals will have an easy passage. “Everybody thinks it's a good idea to go ahead with the framework, but we are expecting plenty of battles once we actually try to do so,” said one official.

Environment officials are now lobbying support for their ideas elsewhere in the Commission, amid signs that the proposal may already be running into trouble.

It had been hoped that a definitive paper would be ready in time for the next meeting of environment ministers on 4 March, but hold-ups within the Commission have forced officials in DGXI, the Directorate-General for environment, to take it off the agenda.

Officials acknowledge that a broad approach is necessary to satisfy those countries which favour emission controls, those which prefer a policy based on quality standards and those with a more basic need to ensure sufficient supplies.

The 30-page draft paper drawn up by DGXI is based on the strategy agreed at an informal meeting of environment ministers in Seville last October, which concluded that a future framework should reflect the enormous diversity within the Union, combining emission values and quality goals “to define common minimum standards which could give room for initiatives by member states to establish higher objectives”.

Ministers declared that emission values and quality objectives should “not be understood as a right to pollute” and said most countries believed the 'polluter pays principle' should apply. They also said the new European water strategy should “incorporate the progressive reduction in the use of hazardous substances”.

To improve compliance - a crucial factor in EU water policy, applied with varying success in the past - ministers suggested a specific directive on monitoring.

Insiders believe that the current inter-service consultations on the draft communication are a foretaste of the intrigues to come once the proposal reaches the Council of Ministers.

As is customary before proposals can be agreed as Commission policy, DGXI must first gain the support of all other directorates-general for the line it is taking.

Past experience in water policy suggests that both DGVI (agriculture) and DGIII (industry) will be particularly concerned that the proposal does not impinge too much on their own policies. They will also be well aware of the pressure they are under from lobbyists within their own sectors.

But most officials claim that, so far at least, the consultation process is being carried out in a spirit of coordination and cordiality. “The level of cooperation has been very good so far. We have to make sure that it's acceptable all round, so we are in genuine listening mode,” said another official.

They expect a heated debate, however, once the communication is in the public domain and is handed over for ministerial consideration, pointing out that any legislation resulting from the paper would probably have to be passed by ministers unanimously.

If the overall reaction to its document is positive, the Commission will begin the rather more contentious work of drafting solid proposals, a process which it hopes to complete before the end of the year but is unlikely to be finished before early in 1997.