On Tuesday, 5 March, the European environment ministers will try to reach a general approach on the recasting of the drinking water directive. This is the only subject on which a formal position of the ‘Environment’ Council is expected. This session, chaired by the Romanian Minister of the Environment, Graţiela Leocadia Gavrilescu, and the Romanian Minister of Water and Forests, Ioan Deneș, will focus on discussions on the EU's future long-term climate strategy, on the environmental aspects of the European Semester budget exercise and on endocrine disrupters.
‘Drinking water’ directive. Ministers will have a public debate on the proposal to update the 1998 Directive - a dossier that Member States finally chose to give precedence to rather than the debate initially envisaged on the reuse of urban waste water for agricultural irrigation (see EUROPE 12199). The objective is to adopt a general approach on updating the directive, proposed in February 2018, to ensure safe and accessible tap water for all in the EU, in response to the Right2water citizens' initiative. Intense discussions took place at expert level (see EUROPE 12171).
To protect human health from the adverse effects of any contamination of drinking water, the compromise text, which will be submitted to ministers, proposes to set hygiene requirements by means of implementing acts. These would include: - European positive lists of compositions or starting substances authorised to be used for manufacturing of materials; - common methodologies for testing and accepting such substances or compositions; - procedures and methods for testing and accepting materials in their final form; - the procedure for applications to include or remove compositions from the European positive lists; - marking of products in contact with drinking water, indicating conformity with the drinking water directive.
Future Climate Strategy 2050. Ministers will have a policy debate on the vision set out by the Commission in its communication ‘A Clean Planet for all’, based on eight scenarios for a climate-neutral European economy.
They will answer the following questions: 1) Based on your evaluation/analysis, at national level, of the efforts needed to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which elements of the long-term vision are the most important with regard to the challenges and/or opportunities of the transition to a climate-neutral economy in a socially fair and cost-effective manner? What kind of policies or tools at EU level could help to address the specific challenges? 2) Knowing that the investments required will mostly need to come from the private sector, what kind of enabling framework is needed to stimulate the necessary investments, among others in new technologies through research, innovation and development, as well as in education and training, including reskilling and upskilling of the workforce (see EUROPE 12201)? The European Council of 21-22 March is expected to provide political guidance and priorities on this future long-term strategy for the EU in 2020.
Endocrine disrupters: ministers will have an general approach debate on the EU framework in this area. They will be asked to indicate what they think would be the best approach to develop a coherent framework and what actions could be taken in the short term to accelerate the implementation of the commitments made under the 7th Environmental Action Programme. In November, the Commission published an embryonic communication to launch a health check of the current legislation to determine whether the common framework achieves its objective of protecting human health and the environment by minimising exposure to these substances (see EUROPE 12132).
Greening of the ‘European Semester’. The ministers' exchange of views will be guided by two questions: how to better take into account sustainability in investments beyond 2020, in particular those financed by the EU budget and national budgets? What kind of instruments should be developed at national level to ensure sustainable investment?
Global Environment Pact. An exchange of views is scheduled for lunch. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)