Compromise texts were approved by the co-legislators at the second session of interinstitutional negotiations on the priority hazardous substances to be monitored in water, on Tuesday 20 May, but the most controversial points were not addressed.
Compromises have been confirmed on the watch list (see EUROPE 13640/11), on the deadlines for starting monitoring campaigns and on the reporting of monitoring data. The EU Council, which was advocating a nine-month period before starting monitoring campaigns, has accepted the six-month period advocated by the Parliament, but without any obligation for the campaign to start exactly on the first day of the seventh month, a parliamentary source told Agence Europe.
As regards the frequency of the data reporting, data relating to status will have to be communicated every six years, explained a diplomatic source. The interim report on the measurement programme has been removed. Monitoring data relating to biological elements will have to be communicated every three years and those relating to chemical data every two years. Member States are encouraged to report these annually.
A maximum of five substances are likely to be retained for the monitoring list. In Parliament, this limit is considered problematic, since this figure was used as a minimum threshold and not as a maximum limit, the parliamentary source explained. The Council considers that the lack of data makes it difficult to define criteria for the good ecological status of groundwater. The Parliament, on the other hand, argues that legislation needs to be updated to keep pace with science.
According to Per Clausen (The Left, Danish), “the Council and Parliament are still quite far apart in reality - for example with regard to the exemptions that the Council is trying to introduce”. The Danish MEP is also waiting to see the list of sustainable projects which, according to the Council, “could not be carried out under the current directive” and which are said to be prevented by an “overriding public interest”.
Technical discussions will now focus on the more controversial issues, with a view to the final trilogue on 17 June, including producer responsibility, the non-degradation of water bodies, the 20-year deadline for phasing out substances, and the limit values set for pollutant concentrations in water bodies. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)