Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, assisted by the European Commission, will meet on 18 December in Strasbourg for a fifth round of negotiations on the proposal to recast the 1998 Drinking Water Directive to strengthen tap water safety and respond to the Right2water citizens' initiative in terms of access to water.
This will be the fifth 'trilogue' and the last chance to try to reach an agreement under the Finnish Presidency of the EU Council.
If an agreement is reached, it will be necessary to wait for the Croatian Presidency for the text resulting from the negotiations to be endorsed by the national ambassadors to the EU (Coreper), as no Coreper meeting is scheduled between 18 December and early January, a European source told EUROPE, on Friday 6 December.
Parliament and EU Council negotiators were unable to overcome their differences, on 3 December, on the revision of this legislation, as positions are so far apart (see EUROPE 12375/15).
One night of negotiations was not enough. "But everyone knew that this was not the last trilogue", a diplomatic source said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)