Bijeenkomst in Vilnius om water- en natuurbeleid EU te bespreken (en)

On 4-5 December, the traditional meeting of EU Water and Marine Directors to discuss EU water and marine policies, their implementation in Member States, and future plans is taking place in Vilnius. At the meeting, informal consultations on the European Commission's planned proposals for EU legal acts on water and marine policies are taking place. EU Biodiversity and Nature Directors also arrived in Vilnius today to discuss the implementation of the EU Biodiversity strategy to 2020.

Participants of both meetings will have a joint session, during which they will cover the coordinated implementation of EU legal acts and policies in these related areas and the evaluation and financing of ecosystems and services. Until now, the implementation of these policies has been discussed at separate meetings of Water, Marine, Biodiversity, and Nature Directors, and they will have a joint session for the first time.

EU Water and Marine Directors will discuss the implementation issues of the Water Framework Directive, requirements for report submission, the Groundwater Directive, the implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment and Nitrates Directives, the progress of the transposition of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, preliminary assessments of sea environment carried out by EU Member States, 2014 activity plans, and other matters. The Meeting will allow Member States to implement water and marine preservation acts more efficiently, ensure the use of EU structural funds, and facilitate the strategic goals for good water condition.

The meeting sessions of Biodiversity and Nature Directors will cover the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, the funding of biodiversity and the Natura 2000 network, the evaluation of the condition of ecosystems and their services and restoration of ecosystems, the Green Infrastructure initiative, and the control of invasive species. One session will be dedicated to expressing and discussing the opinion of NGOs and other environmental organizations on the current processes.

About 90 high officials to discuss the matters of biodiversity and nature and about 100 - to discuss water and marine issues came from EU Members States, candidate countries, the European Free Trade Association countries, the European Commission, and the European Environment Agency. Separate meetings take place every six months in the presiding country. The next joint meeting of these directors will take place in Luxembourg in 2015.