Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-15-Speech-4-077-000"
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"Mr President, my colleague Mr Janez Potočnik unfortunately cannot be here today so he has asked me to replace him and I am happy to do so as I had the chance myself also to participate in part of the Water Forum in Marseille as have my colleagues Piebalgs and Georgieva.
In reply to your questions, first I would like to recall that a Ministerial Declaration was developed by the host, France, together with states’ representatives and the Commission. Second, the EU has developed over several decades a comprehensive water policy.
Since the year 2000, with the adoption of the Water Framework Directive, water policy aims at achieving good status of all EU waters by 2015 on the basis of integrated river basin management. This brings together all users and stakeholders to address all pressures on the water environment in the whole river basin, beyond administrative boundaries. The EU will continue to promote this approach worldwide. But, in spite of our efforts, the achievement of EU water policy goals is still challenging due to a number of old and emerging water management issues related to both water quality and quantity. We also have to look ahead at the vulnerability of the water environment to climate change and ensure that adaptation to climate change is taken into account in our water policies. The Commission presented at the World Water Forum a unique EU web-based platform: the European Climate Adaptation Platform, which is a concrete solution, focusing also on water issues like drought and flooding.
At global level, the EU will do its utmost through its development cooperation policy to promote integrated river basin management as a key tool to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and multi-level governance.
Third, I would like to refer to the 2012 Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources that will present the EU policy response to current water challenges. The Blueprint should, subject to an impact assessment, suggest actions in seven specific areas: on land use; on economic incentives to propose recommendations on how water pricing can reflect the true cost of water use and pollution; on water efficiency targets, to provide tools to develop indicative water efficiency targets – at EU, Member State, river basin and sectoral levels; on innovation, the Blueprint will be complemented by a Water Innovation Partnership with stakeholders and the private sector. The Blueprint will also look at ways to improve governance, including analysing the administrative setup and the potential to reduce administrative burden. Consideration will also be given to the knowledge base for water policy-making, where the Blueprint will seek improvements in statistics on pressure exerted by all activities on water resources; the enhancement of the Water Information System for Europe and the development of a Roadmap for water research. Finally, the Blueprint will reinforce the EU’s commitment to achieve the MDGs on access to drinking water and sanitation, while taking into account relevant outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference.
The implementation of the new Commission policy framework on water management in developing countries will translate integrated water management into concrete action, that is by expanding the EU Water Initiative.
The Ministerial Declaration of the World Water Forum complements the Commission communication on a development Agenda for change, by highlighting the key water-related issues for the implementation of EU development policy."@en1
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