BETA


2021/3003(RSP) Resolution on measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in Member States

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead PETI MONTSERRAT Dolors (icon: EPP EPP) JAHR Peter (icon: EPP EPP), MAESTRE MARTÍN DE ALMAGRO Cristina (icon: S&D S&D), TOOM Yana (icon: Renew Renew), AUKEN Margrete (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), GANCIA Gianna (icon: ID ID), ZŁOTOWSKI Kosma (icon: ECR ECR), REGO Sira (icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 136-p5, RoP 227-p2

Events

2022/06/27
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2022/04/05
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2022/04/05
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 15, with 65 abstentions, a resolution on measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in Member States.

As a reminder, an excess of nitrates is one of the main factors causing harmful pollution to water in the EU due to the accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus from livestock manure and inorganic fertilisers. High concentrations of it in water are harmful to people and nature.

30 years after the adoption of the Nitrates Directives, water quality data shows that the levels of implementation and enforcement are still not sufficient to reach its objectives and the corresponding objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The resolution recalled that the WFD requires all European surface waters to reach good status by 2027 at the latest. Parliament regretted that half of the EU’s water bodies still do not have good status and that nitrate contamination continues to be one of the biggest pressures on the aquatic environment.

Action should be stepped up to address eutrophication of both fresh and salt water caused by nitrogen and phosphorus from all sources, especially from agriculture and municipal sources such as wastewater treatment plants and untreated or inappropriately treated wastewater.

In this regard, the Commission is invited to propose ambitious measures in its forthcoming integrated nutrient management action plan, scheduled for 2022.

Common measuring systems

The resolution underlined that the use of different measurement systems in each Member State can lead to difficulties in tackling the problem of nitrate water pollution at European level. It called on the Commission to guarantee the comparability of nitrate measurements and eutrophication assessment results across the Member States. According to Parliament, the nitrate measurement and eutrophication assessment systems, and in particular the location of the measuring points, should be harmonised within the EU. Moreover, a uniform system for sampling and analysis is required to make measured values comparable.

Water protection

The resolution also stressed that the measures needed to ensure the protection of water quality and to counter pollution caused by nitrates must be designed and adopted on the basis of water quality data and not estimations produced by models, which can only provide additional information for targeted measures.

Non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive

Parliament regretted that during the period 2016-2019, ten Member States were the subject of ongoing infringement cases for non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive. The Commission is urged to adequately tackle all cases of non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive by fully taking into account the growing body of evidence and information brought forth by citizens, and to ensure full transparency regarding its overall actions against non-compliant Member States. The Commission should also greatly improve the use of its enforcement powers, including by making effective and timely use of infringement procedures in order to guarantee that Member States properly designate nitrate vulnerable zones and accurately establish and implement all relevant measures in the nitrate action programmes.

Innovation

Parliament pointed to the importance of promoting the adoption of innovations to induce efficiency and good practices in agriculture, recognising the need to reduce inefficiencies that lead to excessive use of water, fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. It stressed the importance of using innovative practices such as nitrogen recovery from manure to mitigate this pollution and minimise nutrient leakage into the environment and called on the Commission to fund research programmes under Horizon Europe to find smart and innovative solutions to the problem of nutrient pollution in the EU.

Documents
2022/03/30
   EP - Motion for a resolution
Documents
2021/10/05
   EP - MONTSERRAT Dolors (EPP) appointed as rapporteur in PETI

Documents

Votes

Mesures de lutte contre la pollution de l’eau par les nitrates, y compris les améliorations dans les différents systèmes de mesure des nitrates dans les États membres - Measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in member states - Maßnahmen gegen die Verunreinigung von Gewässern durch Nitrat und zu Verbesserungen der verschiedenen Systeme zur Messung des Nitratgehalts in den Mitgliedstaaten - B9-0176/2022 - Proposition de résolution #

2022/04/05 Outcome: +: 548, 0: 65, -: 15
DE ES PL IT FR RO CZ SE BE PT BG EL AT SK HU HR IE LT FI DK LV CY EE NL SI MT LU
Total
93
54
49
71
57
29
21
21
20
19
14
18
17
13
13
12
12
10
12
13
7
6
7
25
5
5
5
icon: PPE PPE
160

Hungary PPE

1

Finland PPE

2

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Latvia PPE

2
2

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Slovenia PPE

3

Malta PPE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE

1
icon: S&D S&D
126

Czechia S&D

For (1)

1

Greece S&D

For (1)

1

Slovakia S&D

2

Hungary S&D

1

Lithuania S&D

2

Finland S&D

1

Latvia S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Estonia S&D

2

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1
icon: Renew Renew
94

Poland Renew

1

Italy Renew

3
3

Austria Renew

For (1)

1

Hungary Renew

For (1)

1

Croatia Renew

For (1)

1

Ireland Renew

2

Lithuania Renew

1

Finland Renew

3

Latvia Renew

For (1)

1

Estonia Renew

3

Slovenia Renew

2

Luxembourg Renew

2
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
69

Spain Verts/ALE

3

Poland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Czechia Verts/ALE

3

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

3

Portugal Verts/ALE

1

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Ireland Verts/ALE

2

Lithuania Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

2

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
57

Germany ECR

1

Romania ECR

1

Sweden ECR

For (1)

3

Belgium ECR

2

Bulgaria ECR

1

Greece ECR

1

Slovakia ECR

For (1)

1

Croatia ECR

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Latvia ECR

2

Netherlands ECR

Abstain (1)

5
icon: The Left The Left
33

France The Left

2

Czechia The Left

1

Sweden The Left

For (1)

1

Belgium The Left

For (1)

1

Portugal The Left

4

Ireland The Left

3

Finland The Left

For (1)

1

Denmark The Left

1

Cyprus The Left

2

Netherlands The Left

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
35

Germany NI

Abstain (1)

3

France NI

Abstain (1)

1

Slovakia NI

2

Lithuania NI

1

Latvia NI

1
icon: ID ID
54

Czechia ID

For (1)

Abstain (1)

2

Austria ID

3

Finland ID

2

Denmark ID

Abstain (1)

1

Estonia ID

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ID

Against (1)

1

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

commission/0/dg
Old
Environment Agriculture and Rural Development
New
Agriculture and Rural Development Environment
docs/1
date
2022-06-27T00:00:00
docs
url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=57958&j=0&l=en title: SP(2022)361
type
Commission response to text adopted in plenary
body
EC
docs/1
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0110_EN.html title: T9-0110/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
events/0
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0110_EN.html title: T9-0110/2022
events/0
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
type
Results of vote in Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=57958&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
events/1
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
type
Decision by Parliament
body
EP
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0110_EN.html title: T9-0110/2022
events/1/summary
  • The European Parliament adopted by 548 votes to 15, with 65 abstentions, a resolution on measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in Member States.
  • As a reminder, an excess of nitrates is one of the main factors causing harmful pollution to water in the EU due to the accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus from livestock manure and inorganic fertilisers. High concentrations of it in water are harmful to people and nature.
  • 30 years after the adoption of the Nitrates Directives, water quality data shows that the levels of implementation and enforcement are still not sufficient to reach its objectives and the corresponding objectives of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
  • The resolution recalled that the WFD requires all European surface waters to reach good status by 2027 at the latest. Parliament regretted that half of the EU’s water bodies still do not have good status and that nitrate contamination continues to be one of the biggest pressures on the aquatic environment.
  • Action should be stepped up to address eutrophication of both fresh and salt water caused by nitrogen and phosphorus from all sources, especially from agriculture and municipal sources such as wastewater treatment plants and untreated or inappropriately treated wastewater.
  • In this regard, the Commission is invited to propose ambitious measures in its forthcoming integrated nutrient management action plan, scheduled for 2022.
  • Common measuring systems
  • The resolution underlined that the use of different measurement systems in each Member State can lead to difficulties in tackling the problem of nitrate water pollution at European level. It called on the Commission to guarantee the comparability of nitrate measurements and eutrophication assessment results across the Member States. According to Parliament, the nitrate measurement and eutrophication assessment systems, and in particular the location of the measuring points, should be harmonised within the EU. Moreover, a uniform system for sampling and analysis is required to make measured values comparable.
  • Water protection
  • The resolution also stressed that the measures needed to ensure the protection of water quality and to counter pollution caused by nitrates must be designed and adopted on the basis of water quality data and not estimations produced by models, which can only provide additional information for targeted measures.
  • Non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive
  • Parliament regretted that during the period 2016-2019, ten Member States were the subject of ongoing infringement cases for non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive. The Commission is urged to adequately tackle all cases of non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive by fully taking into account the growing body of evidence and information brought forth by citizens, and to ensure full transparency regarding its overall actions against non-compliant Member States. The Commission should also greatly improve the use of its enforcement powers, including by making effective and timely use of infringement procedures in order to guarantee that Member States properly designate nitrate vulnerable zones and accurately establish and implement all relevant measures in the nitrate action programmes.
  • Innovation
  • Parliament pointed to the importance of promoting the adoption of innovations to induce efficiency and good practices in agriculture, recognising the need to reduce inefficiencies that lead to excessive use of water, fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. It stressed the importance of using innovative practices such as nitrogen recovery from manure to mitigate this pollution and minimise nutrient leakage into the environment and called on the Commission to fund research programmes under Horizon Europe to find smart and innovative solutions to the problem of nutrient pollution in the EU.
commission/0/dg
Old
Agriculture and Rural Development Environment
New
Environment Agriculture and Rural Development
docs/1
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
docs
url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0110_EN.html title: T9-0110/2022
type
Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
body
EP
events
  • date: 2022-04-05T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0110_EN.html title: T9-0110/2022
forecasts
  • date: 2022-04-05T00:00:00 title: Vote in plenary scheduled
procedure/stage_reached
Old
Awaiting plenary debate/vote
New
Procedure completed
procedure/title
Old
Measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in member states
New
Resolution on measures against water pollution caused by nitrates, including improvements in the different nitrate measuring systems in Member States
commission/0/dg
Old
Environment Agriculture and Rural Development
New
Agriculture and Rural Development Environment
commission/0/dg
Old
Agriculture and Rural Development Environment
New
Environment Agriculture and Rural Development
forecasts/0
date
2022-04-05T00:00:00
title
Vote in plenary scheduled
forecasts/0
date
2022-04-04T00:00:00
title
Indicative plenary sitting date
docs/0/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/B-9-2022-0176_EN.html