The informal meeting of European environment ministers in Budapest on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 July did not prove fruitless. On Wednesday 17 July, twenty-one ministers co-signed a letter calling on the European Commission to ensure that water is a “top priority in the European agenda over the coming years”.
In Budapest, the Hungarian Presidency, supported by the ministers present, made the European Commission’s initiative for resilient water management one of its priorities in the face of increasing drought (see EUROPE 13452/1).
“According to the European Environment Agency, around 20% of the European territory and 30% of Europeans suffer from water stress every year”, says the letter addressed to European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič and Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who was also present in Budapest (see EUROPE 13451/5). Currently estimated at €9 billion a year, the resulting cost “could reach €65 billion per year”, according to the ministers. And let’s not forget flooding, where the cost of the ‘risk mitigation’ component alone amounts to “at least €14 billion”, insist the twenty-one Member States.
The ministers are therefore calling for the Commission’s commitment to be put into practice “through comprehensive action at EU level”, and point out that the European Council committed itself to strengthening water resilience in the EU and investing in “ample cross-border infrastructure” in the strategic agenda it approved on 27 June.
It is water “in all its dimensions” that is involved: fresh water, salt water, protection of ecosystems, human consumption, agriculture and food systems, energy and industry. This requires a global approach, with the implementation of systemic solutions. Innovation, international cooperation and investment will therefore have to be stepped up, said the ministers in their letter.
To “ensure availability and security of water supplies”, the twenty-one Member States also recommend “adapting activities to existing water resources” and specify that the solutions found should be “nature-based” (conservation and restoration of wetlands, etc.).
These grievances could be heard, as Ms von der Leyen could decide to separate the Environment/Fisheries portfolio and strengthen the water issue in the Environment portfolio.
The following countries have signed the letter through their respective environment ministers: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/d2f (Original version in French by Florent Servia)