Workshop of the European Commission on the illegal use of water in agriculture

Next on 28 and 29 September, the European Commission, Directorate-General of environment and the management of the water of Belgium-Wallonia organized jointly - near Brussels, in Louvain-la-Neuve - a Conference on the implementation of the water policy of the EU at the level of the farm. The agricultural sector, as well as other European economic sectors, has to adapt to European policies - as the policy framework of the water - oriented to achieve good status for all waters for European citizens. Appropriate measures, for example in the field of quality and quantity of water are identified and their implementation process is located at different levels in different European river basins.

The control of the implementation of the policies thus acquired an increasingly prominent role, and this Conference - the sixth on Agriculture and water in the EU-27 - is important to strengthen the debate, which will improve the next reform of the CAP as well as the Blueprint for Water, the review of the water policy of the EU scheduled for the year 2012.

Of special interest to Spain will be the I meeting of the Group of workshops proposed, and which shall examine the application of the conditionality concerning the "unauthorized water use in agriculture" and other policy measures necessary to identifycontrolled it and eliminate it. The workshop will participate as speakers Javier Serrano, the Andalusian water agency, Enrique Calleja of the Guadiana Alto Consortium and Kerstin Uhlig of the Secretariat of Globalgap, and be based on a working paper which the Commission is currently preparing.