WRITTEN QUESTION E-1110/96 by Gerardo Fernández-Albor (PPE) to the Commission (13 May 1996)

Subject: Community involvement in remedying the shortcomings of water authorities in Spain

Water management in Spain continues to reveal serious shortcomings. Criticism of the operations of hydrographic confederations in that country has increased recently. In addition to the criticism made by ecological organizations, which see these confederations as obsolete structures, the Spanish Ombudsman recently made a statement on the over-exploitation of aquifer 23 in La Mancha, in which the structure and methods of the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation were strongly criticized.

The spokesman of the European Natural Heritage Fund, who is a member of the Spanish National Water Council, has said that these confederations constitute the greatest failure in water management in Spain. The aim of these structures is generally believed to be the over-enthusiastic implementation of water projects while completely disregarding the remaining aspects of public water management. Similar criticisms can be made of the water administration offices responsible for monitoring authorizations to extract water, water quality and waste.

This naturally has a significant impact on Spanish farmers, who have reason to be concerned at the shortcomings in Spanish water authorities noted above. Can the Commission say whether, as part of the common agricultural policy and on the basis of Community responsibility in this area, it might be possible for it to encourage arbitration with a view to seeking solutions to remedy these shortcomings and, with the cooperation of all those involved, arriving at a more suitable water management policy in this Community country?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (14 June 1996)

The Community helps to maximise efficient water use in Spain, with structural measures:

- to increase the efficiency of water use by modernisation of the existing irrigation systems in the context of the operational programmes for objective 1 regions. The intervention planned for the 1994-1999 period affects 263,300 hectares (12.8% of the irrigated land of those regions). The European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund (EAGGF) guidance section financial allocation for this purpose is 192 MECU;

- to reduce the use of water in irrigated areas in the context of the accompanying measures of the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform for the 1994-1999 period. A specific water use reduction project is under way in the region of Castilla-La Mancha; the total amount of EAGGF guarantee section expenditure foreseen is 17.86 MECU and the project covers 90,000 hectares;

- contributing indirectly to reduce the water loss by run-off through afforestation. The operational programmes for objective 1 regions foresee the afforestation of 61,000 hectares of non-agricultural land in the 1994-1999 period. The Commission has approved, in the context of the accompanying measures of the CAP reform, to part-finance a national programme for the 1994-1997 period with a global allocation of 430 MECU, which corresponds to about 300,000 has, mainly for afforestation of agricultural land (Regulation (EEC) n° 2080/92 ((OJ L 215, 30.7.1992. )). The Cohesion fund is also part-financing afforestation projects since 1993.

The Commission cannot arbitrate in internal Spanish issues. Furthermore the common agricultural policy does not provide an appropriate legal base for the development of Community policy for the overall management of water resources. Community policy on water resource issues is developed as part of environment policy, on the basis of Article 130 of the EC Treaty. A recent Commission communication on water policy ((COM(96) 59 final. )) describes current legislation in this area and suggests a future framework directive on water resources. The Commission is currently consulting in this context and expects to produce a concrete proposal shortly.