Water resources: the concerns of EU citizensEuropean citizens "are concerned by the quantity and quality of the water" available to them, says Eurobarometer, the European Commission’s public opinion polling agency, in a survey whose findings were published on 22 March, World Water Day. "In the Mediterranean countries one of the most widely felt problems is that of drought, mentioned by 96% of the Portuguese citizens, 95% of Spaniards and 94% of Italians interviewed". The overwhelming majority of Europeans (79%) considers "the problem of flooding particularly grave", cited "by almost all interviewees in Romania (96%), Bulgaria (94%) and Poland (94%)". As regards the quality of water in Europe (the question on which the Eurobarometer questionnaire involving 25,000 EU citizens was particularly focused), 23% of interviewees consider that over the last ten years "it has improved or remained the same", while 44% think it has "deteriorated". The "gravest threat" for water resources cited by the majority (84%) of the sample interviewed "is pollution by chemical agents, followed by climate change (55%) and changes in water ecosystems (49%)". Eurobarometer further maintains that three out of four are convinced that the EU "ought to propose further measures to tackle problems connected with water resources in Europe". There’s also growing support for proposed tougher fines for those who pollute" and for a fairer pricing policy. 61% of those interviewed "think that they don’t do enough to protect water resources" and cite the need to inform citizens of methods and feasibilities for virtuous behaviour in this field; at the same time they consider indispensable greater efforts to protect water resources on the part of industry, agriculture and at the level of energy production. These questions, explained EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik, will be taken into consideration in the "Plan for the Safeguard of European Water Resources" that the Executive is set to present in November 2012. The Plan, which "will be based on a comprehensive analysis of an economic and climatic model for the period between now and 2050", will identify "current shortcomings and future priorities and propose measures to guide the next developments of water policy down to 2020".Multiannual budget: investments and "own resources""What should the future European budget be like?". This question was posed by the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt in opening the "Second High Level Conference Multiannual financial framework and own resources", held in the seat of the European Parliament in Brussels on 22 March. The meeting, in which were represented the rotating (now Danish) presidency of the EU Council, the European Commission and Parliament and the parliaments of member states, was aimed at promoting a dialogue between partners and gathering the opinions of national MPs. The starting point of the discussion which should be concluded by the end of the year was the proposed multiannual budget presented by the Commission last year, with estimated financial commitments for over a thousand billion euro for the period 2014-2020. It is a budget proposal that Commission President José Manuel Barroso has called "ambitious and innovative". He also pointed out that "the EU budget is a budget for investments, and not of current expenditure", thanks to which it is possible to ensure "key investments in all member countries". This concept was also underlined by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, who read out to the delegates article 311 of the Lisbon Treaty in which it is stated that "the Union shall provide itself with the means necessary to attain its objectives and carry through its policies. Without prejudice to other revenue, the budget shall be financed wholly from own resources". So Schulz and Barroso insisted on the need to enable the EU budget to be provided with its "own resources", instead of depending almost entirely on the annual transfers of member states, as is the case at the present time. The Presidents of EU Parliament and Commission also said they agreed with the proposed introduction of a tax on financial transactions (so-called Tobin tax). "It’s not enough to have great ideas: we also need to create the conditions to transform them into growth and jobs", declared Barroso. That’s why "for example 80 billion euro have been proposed to fund the Horizon 2020 research programme". Training "represents the other key aspect" of the Commission’s proposal, given that in 2020 35% of jobs will require high levels of skills and training. To respond to this challenge the "Erasmus for Everyone" programme has been launched, to "give to 5 million persons the chance to get trained within the EU". Transparency, clarity and simplification of the procedures for the disbursement of funds were, lastly, the objectives spelt out by all three speakers at the conference. Expressing the hope for a "constructive dialogue", Danish Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt insisted, however, that the EU needs to "adopt a culture based on efficiency": "Europe is provided with scarce resources; we can no longer permit ourselves wastage".
