Some progress was made at the second meeting of inter-institutional negotiations on the recast of the 1998 Drinking Water Directive, which aims to improve the safety of tap water in order to ensure access to safe water for all citizens, in response to the European Citizens' Initiative Right2water.
European Parliament negotiators, led by Christophe Hansen, and the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU devoted themselves, on Tuesday evening, 22 October, in Strasbourg, to reviewing progress made at the technical meetings and discussed the risk-based approach, parameters, parametric values and monitoring.
" It was done in good atmosphere but there remains work ahead", said one source.
At this stage, issues relating to universal access to water, the transparency of more information due to consumers than just the quality of the water alone to encourage them to trust drinking tap water, have not been addressed.
The next trilogue meeting is still scheduled for 19 November, but the date has yet to be confirmed. The Finnish Presidency will report to the national ambassadors on the results of the second trilogue, on Friday 25 October. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)