Brussels, 18/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - A compromise on the plan to re-examine the list of priority substances relating to water policy was approved on Wednesday 17 April by the committee of permanent representatives (Coreper). This was a breakthrough welcomed by Phil Hogan, President of the Environment Council. The Irish Presidency of the EU Council had placed the issue on its priority list. The interinstitutional compromise opens the way to a formal agreement in first EP-Council reading in May this year, on the updating of the list of priority substances established under the framework directive on water (Directive 2000/60/EC). It crowns three months of intense trialogue negotiations with success. Hogan said: “I know that the member states, the European Parliament and the Commission have worked hard to reach agreement on this important file and it is a good result for water quality in Europe”.
The agreement endorsed by Coreper above all ensures:
the inclusion of 12 new substances in the list of priority substances impacting on water quality and requiring member states to achieve specified EQSs (environmental quality standards) in respect of these substances (initially the European Parliament called for the inclusion of 25 new substances likely to compromise the safety and cleanliness of surface water - see EUROPE 10742);
inclusion of stricter standards for seven of the existing substances;
establishment of a watch list mechanism to monitor and collect information on emerging pollutants from a network of monitoring sites across Europe to assess their suitability for future inclusion in the priority substances list;
and inclusion of three pharmaceuticals of concern (17-alpha-ethinylestreadiol, 17 beta-estradiol and Diclofenac) on the first watch list (initially, the Parliament called for these three pharmaceutical products to be included in the list of priority substances, but this was not found acceptable by the Council).
A preliminary agreement between the negotiators of the Irish Presidency and the European Parliament had been written off on 27 March when the Council found it over-ambitious, to the great disappointment of environmental NGOs which, on the contrary, considered it far too indulgent (see EUROPE 10817). (AN/transl.jl)