Two decades of EU water policy and water law have brought changes. The trend of continuous deterioration of water quality has been reversed - according to the report of the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Framework Water Directive and the Floods Directive.
According to art. 18 of the Framework Water Directive and art. 16 of the Floods Directive, after each update of river basin management plans and flood risk management plans, the Commission must publish a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of these directives.
The Commission's report includes, inter alia, a review of progress in the implementation of the directives and an assessment of plans, including suggestions for improving future plans. The report also contains an assessment of international cooperation in implementing the directives.
The current fifth implementation report was adopted on 26 February 2019 and contains the following documents:
European review of the second river basin management plans - Commission staff working document accompanying the report;
European review of the first flood risk management plans - Commission staff working document accompanying the report;
Assessments for individual EU Member States regarding second river basin management plans - Commission staff working documents accompanying the report for Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy , Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Great Britain;
Assessments of individual EU Member States regarding the first flood risk management plans - Commission staff working documents accompanying the report for the abovementioned countries;
Report on international cooperation under the Water Framework Directive - Commission staff working documents accompanying the report;
Informal translations of country-specific assessments. Including:
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT, Second river basin management plans - Member State: Poland (pdf, 4.1 MB)
The Commission's report shows a significant improvement in knowledge and reporting on the Framework Water Directive compared to the previous cycle. More Member States submitted timely reports with more comprehensive, relevant and reliable information.
Photo by Jerzy Malicki