Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-02-Speech-1-127-000"
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"en.20120702.20.1-127-000"2
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"Mr President, on behalf of the Commission, I wish firstly to thank Mr Seeber, as well as all the honourable Members who participated in the development of this comprehensive report. This initiative is very timely as we are currently in the process of assessing possible options for our blueprint to safeguard Europe’s water resources, which we plan to adopt in November.
As the report recognises, water policy is well developed and comprises very good legislation, such as the Water Framework Directive, that can protect our water resources if adequately implemented. Indeed, implementation will be an important focus of the blueprint, as we will try to put in place additional tools to make improvements on the ground. In this respect, I am pleased to see that our ideas converge, as the report focuses on issues such as the importance of water accounts, ecosystem services and minimum water flow for environment, water pricing and cost recovery.
While these aspects are, to various extents, covered by our legislation, the results of our assessment of Member States’ river basin management plans show that they are insufficiently addressed. The blueprint will propose ways of reaching a common understanding with stakeholders and Member States so as to integrate these concepts better in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. Implementation of the blueprint’s proposals will be supported by the Innovation Partnership on Water, recognised in your report as a tool to help deliver win-win solutions for the environment and the economy: creating green jobs while finding innovative solutions to our water challenges.
In addition to implementation, your report acknowledges integration as another major focus of action to be covered by the blueprint. In this regard, the blueprint’s capacity to deliver on agriculture and cohesion policy depends very much on the agreement that Parliament will reach with the Council on the multiannual financial framework. The Commission proposals have good potential for improving water efficiency and irrigation, increasing water metering, and promoting reliance on green infrastructures, such as flood plains, and wetland restoration or buffer-strip protection along riverbanks.
Our proposal on the common agricultural policy also clearly envisages the addition of the Water Framework Directive to cross-compliance. The blueprint can translate the green potential of the Commission proposals into concrete possibilities, but this will only happen if you and the Council lend your support to the essence of the ideas that we have put forward.
Another major theme of your report that I would like to cover relates to addressing gaps in water policy. Our assessments show that there are limited but important gaps that we need to fill. The two most important concern water re-use for agriculture and industrial uses, and water efficiency in buildings. The blueprint will propose ways forward, such as examining EU standards to facilitate the take-up of water reuse and the efficiency of appliances in buildings. Any future proposal on this will, as usual, have to be subject to a thorough impact assessment.
I am happy to see that you have identified the same gaps, as well as the necessity to improve our water infrastructure and reduce leakage. The blueprint will also address this, for instance, by highlighting ways to remain within sustainable leakage level, and to finance water infrastructure through the cohesion policy.
Finally, with regard to global aspects, the blueprint will focus on ways of delivering on our Rio+20 commitments, in particular, in relation to the water-related Millennium Development Goals and to a human right to drinking water and sanitation. Of course we look forward to engaging with Parliament in the follow-up work to the 2012 water blueprint."@en1
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