WATECO - 2003 - Common implementation strategy for the Water Frame

WFD Common Implementation Strategy – Progress and Work Programme 2003/2004
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3 Reinforcing the strategy
The Common Implementation Strategy is a joint and voluntary process agreed
between the Member States, Norway and the European Commission. In addition to
the numerous activities mentioned above, the Water Directors agreed a number of
principles and approaches for the Common Implementation Strategy of May 2001, in
particular:
‣ the informal process and the non-legally binding nature of the outputs;
‣ the transparency and openness of the process;
‣ the relationship to the formal committee procedure (as foreseen under Art. 21
of the WFD);
‣ the full involvement of stakeholders and NGOs;
‣ the involvement of Candidate Countries;
‣ the role of the Water Directors and the Strategic Co-ordination Group;
‣ the integration aspects of water policy.
This follow-up strategy does not replace or re-negotiate these agreed principles but
rather strengthen the commitment of all involved parties towards these agreements.
In the first phase of the CIS, the principles have been made operational and filled
with life. The only major difference to the original strategy is that the Water Directors
agreed on their meeting in Valencia of 10 th June 2002 to fully incorporate the
Candidate Countries into the joint process and enable their participation as equal
members at all levels.
Apart from this amendment, the partners in the Common Implementation Strategy
confirm their willingness to continue the joint work programme for 2003 and 2004 on
the basis of the same spirit and principles as set out in the agreed strategy of May
2001. The present document is therefore targeted to review the structure and the
organisation and to agree upon the priority areas for future work. The document does
complement rather than replace the agreed strategic document.
4 Revised structure and organisation
The focus of the work programme 2003/2004 as described below (cf. Chapter 5),
makes it necessary to review the current working structure. In addition, it is the
interest of all involved parties in the Common Implementation Strategy to reduce the
workload and focus the resource input on the most important key activities. In
consequence, the reduction of the number of working groups and the total number of
meetings will be the most important measure to achieve the above-mentioned
objectives.
The result of an informal enquiry amongst the existing working groups showed that
some working groups consider that they have delivered what they were mandated for
and they do not see a need to continue in the present form (e.g. WG 2.8 on
groundwater tools or WG 2.2 on heavily modified water bodies). Other WGs suggest
to re-structure the working groups and to merge their group with other groups in
order to ensure sufficient integration (e.g. WGs 2.9 and 4.1 or WGs 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5).
Another experience in the first phase of the CIS was that a large number of distinct
groups makes it difficult to address the overlapping issues.
In conclusion, the Water Directors decided on their meeting in Copenhagen (21/22
November 2002) to reduce the number of working groups considerably by grouping
most of the issues together. The new group structure intends to streamline the work
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