Debate: Ecological Disaster in the Oder River
Date: THURSDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2022
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

The Commission has been following the situation very closely. As soon as we received the first reports about the disaster in mid-August, Commissioner Sinkevičius spoke with the two environment ministers in Germany and Poland to express the Commission’s concerns, to better understand the situation and to offer our support. The Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre requested an additional analysis from our Joint Research Centre and reached out to operational points of contact in Poland and Germany, both from the civil protection and the marine pollution authorities to plan in advance a possible technical and operational support if needed. Now that the immediate crisis has been contained and authorities have managed to the extent possible to control the situation, it is important that authorities and citizens understand exactly what happened. Unfortunately, today we do not have yet complete clarity. Several causes have been suggested. Most evidence now seems to point into the direction of the sudden growth of an algae which produced a toxic metabolic product that killed fish and many other forms of life in the river. The algae could grow thanks to warm, slow or still water, and crucially, the presence of high levels of salt. Where this salt would have come from is still an unanswered question. We must thus, first of all, establish with certainty what happened and why. The Polish and German authorities are working closely together to get clarity as quickly and completely as possible. Politicians, authorities, NGOs, media and citizens from many countries understandably reacted strongly to the sight of large numbers of fish floating in the river. Rightly, they were wondering whether, had warning signals been given on time, this could have been at least better contained and whether such an event could happen again in the Oder or elsewhere in Europe. I think all these questions must be answered. We need to learn lessons from what happened. Firstly, we need to improve the way in which neighbouring countries alert each other and the European Commission in such sudden accidents, with a view to acting fast to prevent or at least mitigate the problem whilst urgently warning those concerned. Secondly, we need to establish with clarity what went wrong. We should uphold the polluter—pays principle and establish if a concrete activity can be linked to the pollution. Finally, we need to understand whether, and if so, to what extent, the state of the river and/or the specific climate and hydrological circumstances played a role. This is a most difficult issue and takes us beyond the specific case. Many rivers in Europe are, like the Oder, heavily modified to suit inland navigation, industry or energy production. All rivers in Europe are increasingly subject to climate change. It is very important that Member States consider the risks that rivers run. Rivers can play an important economic role, but there are limits to what their ecology can handle. With less water and lower flows during part of the year, Member States should take all this into consideration when taking decisions related to economic activities on or along their rivers. We take this incident very seriously and the Commission will keep the situation under review. EU law applies: EU water law, nature law, law on industrial pollution and on environmental liability are all potentially relevant. Depending on what turns out to have triggered the events, we will ensure it is applied in full to this case and for the future. We are ready to support the most concerned countries and have offered expert assistance and information on potential EU co-funding instruments, ranging from short-term emergency support to longer term river restoration support. And we will keep this House informed about any developments in this case.