WRITTEN QUESTION E-3567/03 by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission. Water for Life.
Date: 2003-12-02
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, aid policy, development aid, terms for aid, water requirements, water supply

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Official Journal of the European Union

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8.4.2004

Third countries such as Switzerland and Liechtenstein have not provided the Commission with any
information about possible activities of Mr Nada and Al Taqwa Ltd. in the Community. It is up to the
Member States to investigate whether the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 have been infringed
and whether legal persons or entities have links with persons, groups or entities which have already been
identified by the UN Committee as meeting the conditions set out in Resolution 1267(1999) or in
Resolution 1390(2002). Where appropriate, Member States should propose that the UN Committee makes
a similar finding as regards the legal person or entity investigated.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed
against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban, and
repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 467/2001 prohibiting the export of certain goods and services to
Afghanistan, strengthening the flight ban and extending the freeze of funds and other financial resources in respect
of the Taliban of Afghanistan, OJ L 139, 29.5.2002.

(2004/C 88 E/0483)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3567/03

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(2 December 2003)

Subject: Water for Life

On 3 September 2002 the European Union launched its ‘major global Water Initiative aimed at creating
strategic partnerships to achieve the World Summit on Sustainable Development goals on clean water and
sanitation’, viz. to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and improved
sanitation by 2015.

How many ‘strategic partnerships’ have now been established and how many people have to date

1.
benefited from access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation as a result?

The EU made clear

2.
EUR 1,4 billion per year then being invested in water-related aid. By how much has it done so?

it was ready to increase financial

resources over and above the

that

Given that 10 per cent of the time needed to reach the 2015 goals has now passed, what is the

3.
Commission’s assessment of progress to date and the likelihood of the targets being realised?

4. What action must a developing country take in order to take advantage of the EU promise to
increase financial resources towards water-related development aid?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(28 January 2004)

Important progress has been made since the launch of the EU Water Initiative at the World Summit
1.
on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
in 2002, with the establishment of two strategic partnerships
covering Africa and twelve countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia (EECCA). Two
additional geographical components, covering respectively the Mediterranean and Latin America, are in the
process of being designed.

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On the Africa front, following the signing of the ‘strategic partnership’ during WSSD in Johannesburg,
there have been extensive technical exchanges between the European and African partners, through a
continued dialogue during the Water Week in August 2003 in Stockholm, the African Ministerial Council
on Water (AMCOW) technical meeting in Ougadougou in October 2003 and the Panafrican Water
Conference in Addis Ababa in December 2003, culminating in the following four key milestones:

(cid:1) Adoption of a Joint Declaration on the implementation of the Union-African Strategic Partnership on

Water Affairs and Sanitation;

(cid:1) Adoption of an outline work programme providing guidelines to drive the future stages of the

development of the Union Water Initiative in Africa;

(cid:1) Selection of the first river basins which will benefit from initial Union support (EUR 10 million);

(cid:1) Pre-Selection of the first countries for the country dialogue on water supply and sanitation.

Process-wise, two working groups were set up to address the provision of water and sanitation (under the
leadership of Denmark and Lesotho), and the issue of integrated water resources management including for
transboundary basins (under the leadership of France and Tanzania). A financial strategy has also been
outlined (with United Kingdom lead). These groups involve all relevant stakeholders and are developing
activities at national and regional levels for which the objectives of the Water Initiative will be applied
(i.e. reinforce political ownership,
increase demand based on national strategies and poverty reduction
plans, reinforce coordination and efficiency of development assistance, promote partnerships involving all
actors). This will take place in the first countries and river basins selected by AMCOW. A more detailed
programme for the development of the African component of the EU Water Initiative including specific
actions (deriving from the outputs of each programmatic objective and each Working group) will be
jointly established in the coming months.

Under the leadership of Denmark, significant progress has been made on the development of the Union-
EECCA ‘Strategic Partnership on Water for Sustainable Development’ since its launch at the WSSD in
September 2002 as part of the Union Water Initiative. The 5th United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) Pan-European Conference of Environment Ministers held in Kyiv in May 2003 was an
important step: participants from the 55 countries represented expressed a high level of interest in the
EECCA component of the Union Water Initiative, as reflected in the Ministerial Declaration; and a
Programme Document on the future development and implementation of the Union-EECCA Strategic
Partnership on Water was adopted. The next stage is to take further steps towards concrete action on the
ground based on the list of ‘building blocks’ identified,
in order to contribute to the achievement of
international targets on water and sanitation in the EECCA Region.

In the Mediterranean region, under the stewardship of Greece we are very close to finalising the design of
a Mediterranean component of the Water Initiative. In parallel, Spain and Portugal, in close co-operation
with Mexico, are close to finalising the Latin American component of the Initiative.

In recognition of the importance of financial questions, the United Kingdom is leading a working group on
financial resources, while the Commission is leading an initiative on research. Additionally, monitoring
tools are being developed, by international institutions and in the context of the Union Water Initiative,
which should enable the progress towards the achievement of the water and sanitation targets to be
reviewed.

The approach of the EU Water Initiative (cid:1) towards increased coordination and a more efficient use
2.
of existing instruments (cid:1) is applied to specific projects and programmes under implementation within
Community and Member States development programmes (for example, Community-supported water
projects are ongoing in more than 20 African countries, and water is a focal sector in 12 African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries). The Community already provides a EUR 10 million support to
transboundary basins in Africa.

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In addition to reinforcing the use of existing instruments, and recognising the need to use Official
Development Assistance (ODA) as a catalyst
to the leverage of other financial resources (financial
institutions, private, domestic, etc), the Commission has proposed to allocate the conditional billion EUR
of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) to establish a Water Facility for ACP countries. This Facility
would constitute an innovative and flexible instrument, and build on the ownership demonstrated by the
African partners in the field of water and sanitation (AMCOW, as well as in the framework of New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)). A resolution supporting the creation of this Facility was
presented by the African Ministerial Council during the Pan African Water Conference held in December
2003. A Communication on the modalities for the establishment of the ACP-Union Water Facility is being
prepared, to be submitted for the agreement of EU Member States and subsequently the ACP-EU Council
of Ministers.

3.
Despite these important steps, much remains to be done to achieve tangible results: in order to
realise the drinking and sanitation targets, we need to ensure that everyday until 2015 an extra
120 000 people should receive drinking water and an extra 240 000 people should be provided with
sanitation.

This requires further steps with a renewed emphasis on:

(cid:1) Improving co-operation and co-ordination in the way that water-related interventions are developed

and implemented to maximise the efficiency of present and future action;

(cid:1) Developing an integrated approach, and notably better governance arrangements involving all
stakeholders concerned; further developing the multistakeholder process set in place for implementing
the Water Initiative will be key in this respect;

(cid:1) Catalysing additional funding; a significant boost would be given to the Initiative if the Council of
Ministers can agree to release the additional EUR 1 billion Water Facility for implementation for ACP
countries as proposed by the Commission.

4.
Developing countries have to lead this process, by increasing the importance of water and sanitation
in their national poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies; which is the key to access
development aid. Establishing national policies and improving the institutional environment are essential
to attract additional resources for water and sanitation infrastructure, mainly from private investors.

(2004/C 88 E/0484)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3570/03

by Gerhard Schmid (PSE) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: Setting-up of mobile customs control units in the Federal Republic of Germany after the accession

of the Czech Republic to the European Union

Annex V of the Act of Accession bans exports of certain agricultural products from holdings which are
only obliged fully to meet the structural requirements of the European Union’s veterinary legislation after a
transitional period. The German customs authorities therefore have the task of verifying compliance with
the export ban and will do so by means of mobile customs control units, since controls of goods at the
borders will cease from 1 May 2004. The German authorities point out that only a limited number of such
units may be set up.