May 25, 2007
In the wake of catastrophic flooding in 2005, the European Commission (EC) composed a draft directive in early 2006 aimed at urging EU capital cities to better coordinate and manage flood risks. As the directive heads for a second reading vote at the European Parliament in April, member states are under fire from members of Parliament's Environment Committee for trying to weaken it.
The original draft envisages a three-phase approach: initial flood-risk assessment, flood mapping, and drawing up flood-risk management plans for river basins.
A "cost recovery principal" is one of the most controversial aspects of the directive. Austrian conservative MEP and document architect Richard Seeber explained to the EUobserver: "If a construction [project] has a direct effect on flood risk, [parties] responsible for authorising construction should pay costs for increasing the risk."
Seeber believes the document will be taken to a stage of inter-institutional conciliation, during which various parties would strive to balance interests. A so-called "conciliation committee" would have six to eight weeks to finalise wording for a joint text of the anti-flood measure.
