‘Big battle’ likely over plans for new water quality rules

Date: 24/02/2000

By Gareth Harding

THE European Parliament and EU governments are squaring up for a head-to-head clash over a planned new law aimed at cleaning up Europe's water, after MEPs voted to tighten up the proposed legislation last week.

The most contentious issue in the conciliation talks which will be needed to bridge the gap between the two sides is how to deal with hazardous substances that pollute the continent's water supplies.

Spurred on by the recent cyanide disaster which has poisoned sections of the Danube basin, MEPs are insisting that the draft framework directive on water quality should contain a legally-binding commitment to phase out the release of hazardous substances into the aquatic environment by 2020.

This would honour a pledge made by member states under the international OPSPAR convention in 1998, but has run into fierce opposition from both the European Commission and Union governments, which view the OSPAR promise as an aspirational goal rather than a binding target.

Last week's Parliament vote also spells trouble for the Commission's priority list of substances for which emission controls and quality targets will have to be set in the near future.

The proposal, which was adopted by the EU executive earlier this month, identifies more than 30 chemicals which will need risk assessments. But MEPs have taken a radically different approach to both the Commission and Council of Ministers by signing up to the goals laid down in the OSPAR agreement.

"OSPAR is about the cessation of hazardous substances, whereas risk assessment is about their control," said Klaus Lanz, of the environmental campaign group Greenpeace, who predicted a "big battle" in the conciliation talks which are due to start next month.

The two sides will also have to settle their differences over the timetable for achieving the objectives laid down in the draft directive. MEPs argue that they should be met ten years after the new law enters into force, rather than 16 as agreed by member states last year.

Fierce arguments are also expected over the Parliament's move to extend the definition of dangerous substances to include radioactive materials.

Member states will resist most of the proposed changes passed by the assembly last week. But although the Commission is opposed to some of the amendments demanded by MEPs, Environment Commissioner Margöt Wallstrom said she was "extremely happy" with the overall result of the vote and indicated that she would support many of the demands during the forthcoming negotiations with the Council.

The European Parliament and EU governments are squaring up for a head-to-head clash over a planned new law aimed at cleaning up Europe's water, after MEPs voted to tighten up the proposed legislation.