The European Commission has removed from its agenda for the coming months a water resilience initiative, an EU response to increasingly frequent episodes of drought and floods.
The European Commission has apparently suspended plans to increase water resilience, sparking fury from both environmental groups and industry bodies.
The EU initiative, announced in September by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, aimed to address increasingly frequent periods of drought and floods, which have had devastating effects across Europe and have been linked to the climate change.
Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the Commission responsible for Ecological Policy, was scheduled to present the plans on March 12, sending what advocates hoped would be a strong message to the next government that will take office in the fall.
However, recent months have seen a series of U-turns in environmental policy, following widespread protests by farmers and widespread Conservative rejection of the landmark green package.
The powerful agricultural lobby in Brussels has made no secret of its misgivings about the EU's actions on water scarcity, which could limit irrigation options in water-stressed areas.
In the provisional agenda for the Commission's weekly meetings, published late on Wednesday (February 14), all mention of the plan against the water crisis has been removed, with no later date given for its publication . The agenda was dated two days earlier and was apparently drawn up after a weekly meeting of the commissioners' chiefs of staff.
A Commission spokesperson told reporters that the March 12 publication date was provisional, but that is at odds with recent statements from EU officials.
Following a meeting in mid-January with national ministers, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius stated that the initiative would arrive in March and would look at “how we can ensure that our water contributes to a fair, sustainable and resilient economy”.
Brussels' reaction to the apparent shelving of the plans was immediate and direct.
“I am appalled that the Commission has made the irresponsible decision to stop the water resilience initiative when intense floods and droughts are already drowning or scorching parts of Europe at immense cost to communities, farmers, our food supply and the nature,” said Claire Baffert, policy manager at WWF's European office in Brussels.
“It makes no sense and can only have the intention of obtaining political gains on the eve of the elections,” said Baffert, referring to the European elections in June, and urged the Community Executive to put the issue back on the agenda.
The water sector also seems concerned.
Géraud de Saint-Exupéry, European director of US water technology company Xylem, told Euronews that aging infrastructure was exacerbating Europe's vulnerability and the bloc urgently needed a cohesive and well-funded response.
“The main priorities are to improve water treatment and distribution infrastructure to minimize losses and increase efficiency, invest in cutting-edge technologies to precisely control and manage water resources, and adopt comprehensive policies for the conservation and maintenance of quality and quantity of water,” declared Saint-Exupéry.
Representing water supply companies, the Brussels-based industrial group EurEau was also “deeply concerned” by the Commission's decision. The association noted that Portugal, Cyprus, Italy, Hungary and Romania had recently called for a more global and European response to water insecurity, and stated that EurEau's demand for a global EU strategy and action plan was shared by an increasing number of interested parties.
The association's president, Pär Dalhielm, told Euronews that shelving the initiative is another example of the Commission giving in to growing opposition to its flagship green deals programme. “And this is unfortunate, as the retention of the water resilience initiative has no winner,” Dalhielm said. “All sectors – from agriculture to energy, from manufacturing to tourism – that compete for our scarce and often polluted water resources will lose.”
A Commission proposal on climate change resilience appears to still be on the provisional agenda for 12 March.
