Sefcovic to regions: ‘Fighting drought must be your commitment’

Brussels – Drought is a local problem that needs to be addressed locally. While climate change and extreme weather events affect everyone, from a legal standpoint, the EU can do virtually nothing, and action to combat and mitigate it necessarily comes through national and even more regional policy. “Any possibilities of deploying nature-based solutions and regional engagement against water scarcity should be explored to increase the resilience against frequent extreme weather events such as droughts,” said Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for the Green Deal, in a call to local governments across Europe to take responsibility instead of whining about inaction.

It is pointless to invoke the EU and complain about a lack of joint action as “the Commission does not formally declare the state of droughts of any region. It falls within the competence of the Member States depending on their national criteria,” Sefcovic said. A long-term drought status has “no EU-level official definition.” Translated: unless the legal framework is changed and Brussels and member states redefine the competencies, the territories must conduct the fight against water shortages.

It is an admonishment also — and especially — for Sicily, a region with a special statute, and mentioned explicitly in the urgent parliamentary question signed by Ruggero Razza (FdI/ECR). “The proportion of Sicily experiencing severe drought conditions has reached 45%,” the MEP denounced in a parliamentary question in which he scored an own goal. Sefcovic holds Italy accountable, noting that the only possible way to solve a problem that Brussels knows well is through national action. In February, the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the EU Commission already sounded the alarm about water rationing in Sicily.

What have Italy and Sicily done so far to avoid a water crisis, notwithstanding the unprecedented drought? This is the crux of the matter. The commissioner for the Green Deal avoids confrontation and controversy. In a cordial tone, he reminds us that there are conditions that prevent Italy from ending up in infringement proceedings for non-compliance with the 2000 Waters Directive, which, as enshrined in Article 2, aims to protect inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters, and groundwater to “mitigate the effects of floods and droughts,” among other things.

In case of “exceptional and reasonably unforeseeable natural or force majeure, in particular violent floods and prolonged droughts,” a country is not liable to be prosecuted by Brussels if it fails to meet the directive’s objective, provided that “everything possible is done to prevent further deterioration” of the state of affairs. In Italy, there are no reservoirs, there is a waste of rainwater because it is not collected anywhere, and the water distribution network continues to be a problem, as certified by Istat in its latest report in March 2024.

“In 2022, the volume of total water losses at the water distribution stage is 3.4 billion cubic meters, 42.4 percent of the water fed into the network,” the Statistical Institute notes. The amount of water lost in distribution continues to represent “a considerable volume, quantifiable at 157 liters per day per inhabitant.” Estimating a per capita consumption equal to the national average, according to Istat, the volume of water lost in 2022 would meet the water needs of 43.4 million people for an entire year (which corresponds to about 75 percent of the Italian population). In 2022, the hydrographic districts with the most significant total losses in distribution were Sardinia (52.8 percent) and Sicily (51.6 percent), both special-status regions.

Therefore, there are structural issues also linked to cultural problems that result in “unauthorized uses (abusive connections),” as Istat recalls. If Brussels were to start doing an audit to see if Italy has done everything possible to avoid the water crisis it is experiencing these days, it could also end up with the start of an infringement procedure for non-compliance with the 2000 Waters Directive. In short, asking the EU to intervene or the drought in Sicily turns into a resounding own goal.