EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 70/38

(2004/C 70 E/042)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1356/03

by Margrietus van den Berg (PSE) to the Commission

(10 April 2003)

Subject: International flood-management plans

During a recent working visit together with local and regional administrators from both the Netherlands and Germany, and including Members of the Netherlands Second Chamber, to the Ooypolder/Duffelt region of the Netherlands, I was confronted with a discussion on emergency flood plains providing drainage for overflow water from the river Rhine. A management plan has been drawn up by the Netherlands authorities that will extend no further than the Netherlands border, whereas the river basin extends far beyond that border.

1. Is the Commission prepared, in accordance with the water framework directive (2000/60/EC (1)), actively to encourage regional authorities in Germany and the Netherlands to draw up their flood-management plans jointly? And is it prepared — if the Member States concerned so request — to provide support for such action?

2. Does the Commission agree that this example only serves further to confirm that, in addition to water quality, water quantity — with all its ecological implications — should also be regulated, by way of a framework directive and under a European water authority established to that end, at European level?

3. If so, will the Commission be prepared to ensure that management plans drawn up by such a water authority will also be supported by the regional and local authorities and civic organisations concerned?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2003)

Comprehensive crossborder and transnational cooperation on flood prevention and protection is already ongoing, both within river basins and at European level. The regions on the Dutch-German border mentioned by the Honourable Member, are a successful example of such cooperation across borders, planning and acting within the basins of Rhine and Maas.

The International Rhine Protection Commission has, at a Ministerial Conference in Rotterdam in 1998, adopted the Rhine Flood Action Plan which is currently being implemented, and the recently signed new River Conventions for Maas and Schelde (2) have flood prevention and protection as key parts. Further, crossborder cooperation is prevailing in the Elbe, Danube, Oder and Schelde river basins, with flood prevention being a statutory objective within these crossborder river conventions.

Complementing this crossborder cooperation within river basins, the Commission, Member States and Candidate Countries have — beyond the formal scope of the Water Framework Directive (3) — commenced comprehensive cooperation on flood prediction, prevention and mitigation. Exchange of information, knowledge and experience will lead during 2003 to a joint document on best practices in flood prediction, prevention and mitigation. At the same time, the Commission is working on a horizontal initiative addressing environmental risks (forest fires, earthquakes, flood events, and technological risks), with a Commission Communication foreseen during the first half of 2003. Following discussion on this Communication and the collating of best practices, the Commission will consider need and scope of possible legislative frameworks. In parallel, the Commission's Joint Research Centre has developed a flood prediction and modelling instrument for the Oder river basin, this instruments is now to be applied to and made operational for the Elbe and Danube basins as well.

Crossborder and transnational cooperation on flood prevention and protection is also encouraged and financially supported by the Community funding instruments. In the case of the region on the German-Dutch border mentioned by the Honourable Member, the transnational initiative ‘IRMA’ (Interreg Rhine Maas Activities) has just been successfully finalised. Planning and implementation involved, in transnational cooperation, countries, regions and local communities of Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Community funding has been provided from the European Fund for Regional Development (ERDF), by the Community Initiative Interreg. For flood prevention and protection measures in the Rhine and Maas regions, more than EUR 140 million have been made available from the ERDF, contributing to a total investment of more than EUR 400 million. The findings and successes of this transnational cooperation have just been presented at a conference in Düsseldorf on 11 April 2003, with participation of German and Dutch Ministries, regions and water boards (‘waterschappen’) and in a booklet published ‘Hoogwater dreigt … samen sterk!/Impeding floods … united we stand!’, with a foreword by Mr H. Kamp, Dutch Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. In the current programming period of the structural funds (2000-2006), the Interreg III community initiative will continue the work started with the ‘IRMA’ programme, by means of the ‘North-West Europe’ programme. This programme has reserved some EUR 92,3 million, of which EUR 46,2 million from the ERDF, for flood prevention and protection actions with the measure ‘The prevention of flood damage’ (4).

The European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) provides under the Rural Development Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 (5), article 33, the possibility to support measures for water-management which could include flood prevention measures. The introduction of appropriate instruments to prevent the agricultural and forestry production potential against natural disasters is eligible under this Regulation as well. Member States can include these measures in their Rural Development Plans. Cross-border co-operation between the competent authorities is possible to design and implement such measures, as part of an integrated flood prevention concept.

(1) OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1.

(2) New International Conventions for the Protection of the Maas river and of the Schelde river, signed at Gent 3 December 2002; Maas: http://www.cipm-icbm.be/accord.asp; Schelde: http://www.icbs-cipe.com/NL/d_frame-set.htm

(3) Whilst the Water Framework Directive will contribute to mitigating the effects of floods and droughts (cf. Article 1 (e)), it does not per se set operational targets for flood prevention and flood protection, not least with a view to the legal basis of article 175(1) Treaty; Directive 2000/60/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, OJ L 327, 22.12.2000.

(4) http://www.nweurope.org

(5) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations, OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.