Faced with a growing water shortage and increasing droughts, MEPs held discussions in plenary on how to step up measures to preserve and improve water resources in the European Union, resources that have already been affected by several years of drought.
Opening the discussions, the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, reiterated the EU’s willingness to preserve water management. Thus, while the consequences of the emerging drought are already visible in France, Spain and northern Italy (see EUROPE 13159/6), she mentioned the difficulties faced by many regions of the EU, such as “water shortages, flooding and pollution”.
In her view, despite existing laws to protect water and aquatic ecosystems, the current situation calls for a different approach. Kadri Simson stressed the importance of preserving natural ecosystems linked to water, such as soils, forests, rivers and marshes. “The Biodiversity Act and the proposed Water Preservation Act play an essential role in the restoration and resilience of these ecosystems”, she said.
The Commissioner highlighted the link between soil and water, and the importance of appropriate land management and regeneration practices to increase water retention and strengthen the resilience of ecosystems to extreme events.
“A legislative proposal on soil will be presented on 5 July”, she added.
Ms Simson also called for an integrated approach to managing the water crisis, noting the need for cooperation between Member States and the need to protect ecosystems. She also stressed the importance of prevention, adaptation and protection of water sources.
These comments were strongly echoed by MEPs, many of whom called for concerted action at European level.
For Italy’s Salvatore De Meo (EPP), this must be based on technological innovations, such as “an extraordinary plan to build new dams”, some “spatial data for better management of water resources” or “new species, perhaps GM crops, that will be more resistant to drought”. His Social Democrat compatriot Beatrice Covassi, for her part, defended the idea of a “rationalisation of irrigation” and introducing European “best practices” such as “reusing waste water”. Similarly, Benoît Biteau (Greens/EFA, French) called for the “mobilisation of all public policies towards objectives that are far removed from technically-oriented solutions”.
Vlad-Marius Botoş (Renew Europe, Romanian), for his part, called for the “specific characteristics of each region” to be taken into account. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)