Hazardous substances controls must be
watertightThe
Greens/EFA
Group in the European Parliament gave a cautious welcome to last
night's midnight agreement on new legislation to protect European waters.
After years of political disagreement, and a marathon meeting last night,
a decision between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament on
the Water Framework Directive was finally reached in the early hours of
the morning.
The regulation of water is the most frequently abused area of European
legislation. Fourteen out of fifteen member states are currently before
the Court of Justice for breaching the nitrate legislation.
The new Water Framework Directive encompasses previous Community water
protection legislation. This new agreement will bring about a tougher and
more legally enforceable directive compared with the previous text agreed
by environment ministers. This means that Member States could be taken to
court for failure to comply with the new directive.
In 1998 OSPAR ( the convention for the protection of maritime waters)
introduced the principle of ending discharges and emissions of hazardous
substances by 2020. This was agreed to by the environment ministers of
those member sates involved. The same definition of hazardous substances
has been adopted into the new EU water directive. The Commission will now
be obliged to come forward every 4 years with a new list of priority
substances defined as being hazardous and phase them out
accordingly.
Alex de Roo (MEP, Netherlands) Vice President of
the Environment Committee said:
"We've been calling for a policy of zero-tolerance for hazardous
substances in water for a long time. Although this agreement is a step
forward as the chemicals in water debate is now public, we are still very
far from achieving our goal. But at least some substances including heavy
metals like nickel, lead, cadmium and mercury - known for their health
risks including cancer - have been recognised for what they really are.
These are truly hazardous substances that need to be dealt with as a
priority."
But many questions still remain unanswered. For ground water the
Commission will have to propose a new daughter directive within the next
two years.
For more information please
contact:
Eluned Haf
Press Office
Green/
EFA group in the European Parliament
ehaf@europarl.eu.int
Tel: (Bxl) +32 2 284 41665
Mobile: +32 497 480
255
Fax: (Bxl) +32 2 2844944
