Luxemburg, 27/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Luxemburg on Tuesday, EU environment ministers reached unanimous political agreement on the draft directive to set up a Community framework for the coordinated flood risk assessment and management in the EU, according to a three step approach: preliminary risk assessment, drawing up risk maps and drawing up management plans for the risks identified. The quality of the compromise presented by the Austrian environment minister and out-going Council president Josef Pröll and the desire of delegations to give themselves the means to combat effectively an increasingly serious and frequent scourge, which individual Member States cannot manage individually, allowed this outcome.
Delegations' final reservations, on the scope of the directive and the timescale for the implementation of the three steps planned, were removed thanks to final adjustments that were to everyone's satisfaction: supporters of subsidiarity who feared a too heavy administrative load, Member States concerned about the impact of measures upstream or downstream of a catchment basin shared by several countries, those who wanted more time to prepare for the new requirements of the future legislation, and countries, which, like the European Commission, supported by Belgium, wanted to maintain coherence with the spirit and the requirements of the framework directive on water (2000/60/EC). The Council agreement, very close to the Parliament's first reading opinion, bodes well for the future.
“We will soon have a new instrument for common planning and strategy to combat floods and protect human lives, the environment and goods. After intensive preparatory work, we have reached unanimous agreement. Our aim is to improve coordination within and among Member States. This is very important because with climate change Europe is being more frequently and more seriously affected,” said Mr Pröll, delighted with the outcome.
On behalf of the European Commission, Stavros Dimas welcomed the speed with which the Council and Parliament had advanced the proposal presented less than six months ago. “Since 1998, there have been over one hundred floods in Europe, bringing with them loss of human lives and economic losses. Climate change will increase their intensity. More than 70 million Europeans live in coastal areas and 10 million of them in areas at risk. If we map the areas at risk and if we cooperate, we will save lives and reduce damage,” he stressed.
The text to the agreement, welcomed for its balance and proportionality, includes the directive covering the whole of EU territory - both the national hydro-graphic basins and the international hydro-graphic basins and coastal zones, as proposed by the Commission (due to concerns about efficiency). Preliminary assessment of risks of flooding, by Member States should be made by 22 December 2012 at the latest - a year later than laid down in the initial Commission proposal. The timetable for detecting risks and flood management remains unchanged. Therefore, the cartography of flood risks has to be finished by 22 December 2013 at the latest. Risk maps will be reviewed and if necessary updated on 22 December 2013 at the latest, then every six months.
Flood risk management plans will have to be elaborated and published by 22 December 2015 at the latest to be implemented on 23 December 2015. Their implementation is planned for 2021 then every six years. The two year deadline separating revision of the maps and that for the plans could be used in the organisation of a public consultation.
In an effort to reassure Germany and the Netherlands, who are particularly concerned by the eminently cross-border character of the problem, the text stipulates (in compliance with a Slovenian compromise proposal) that flood risk management plans establishes in one Member State must not include measures which by their extent and impact, significantly increase flood risks upstream or downstream of other countries in the same river basin or sub basin, unless these measures have been coordinated and a agreed solution has been found among the Member States concerned.
In order to guarantee the flexibility required in implementing this future directive (to the great satisfaction of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark and Luxembourg), Member States having already worked in flood risk prevention and management may use their existing risk maps and their existing management plans as long as these were established before 22 December 2010 and that the Member States had made their wish to use them known before that date.
The countries of Central Europe, particularly affected by the most recent flooding, all welcomed the effort of solidarity on the part of the other Member States to their advantage and the agreement on a text which embodies this solidarity at European level. Slovakia, backed by Hungary, suggested that the new rules applying to the Solidarity Fund should be applied in order to “provide the same security to all European citizens”.
The European Commission was unable to have the text make it an obligation for Member States to take the impact of climate change on future flood risk when carrying out a risk assessment (the United Kingdom had voiced objection to this). To avoid preventing an agreement, the Commission simply issued a declaration to the minutes of the session to insist on this point, nonetheless counting on the Parliament to get things back on an even keel during second reading.