Evolution of EU water policy : a critical assessment and a hopeful perspective

Water is the sector most comprehensively covered in European Union's environmental policy. An initial wave of directives accounting for public health protection and for harmonisation of environmental rules in the common market was followed by a call for a policy reform to address more properly realistic objectives, often conflicting in practical interpretation, such as environmental protection, subsidiarity and deregulation. The present paper discusses the evolution of EU water policy and examines critically how the various issues and objectives are brought together in the new EU water framework directive. The complex interplay of institutional and non-governmental actors in the formulation of European water policy is analysed, while finally its implications for the development and the ultimate character of the new, reformulated EU water policy are discussed.