On Tuesday 4 February, the European Commission launched two calls for contributions with a view to adopting a European strategy for water resilience in the spring, in parallel with the publication of three reports on the state of water in the EU (see EUROPE 13572/9). Both are open until 4 March.
One concerns its future strategy, which should make Europe resilient when it comes to water, and which will set interim targets for 2030 and 2040. The other aims to establish a “Water Efficiency First principle” to “better manage water”, the consumption of which will have to be reduced through more efficient management and greater circularity in all of the EU’s economic sectors.
The call for contributions revealed the strategy’s three main objectives: - restore and protect the water cycle, which has been disrupted; - guarantee clean and affordable water and sanitation for all; - promote a competitive European water industry and a clean, water-efficient and circular economy.
The cross-cutting European Water Resilience Strategy will cover five areas of action: - governance and implementation; - infrastructure; - financing and investment; - safety; - industry, innovation and education.
The Commission’s call for contributions is intended to provide food for thought. Opinions received will be published on the European Commission website. It includes a comment left by the Alsace-Moselle Water and Treatment Syndicate (France), which, among many other suggestions, calls on the EU to ensure “that the resource remains a common good and is not subject to undue appropriation by players or bodies”. According to this French union, public services must play a central role in water management, in particular through “the primacy of infrastructure ownership by the community, which guarantees the general interest”.
Links to the two calls for papers: https://aeur.eu/f/fd6; https://aeur.eu/f/fdi
See the draft own-initiative report on water resilience published by the European Parliament on Thursday 30 January, to influence the Commission in drawing up its strategy: EUROPE 13570A5. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)