Conference: The review of the Water Framework Directive and the protection of the EU rivers

Protecting the quality of EU’s rivers is one of the main issues on which the angling community has been very involved since several years. The Water Framework Directive is the main piece of legislation protecting the aquatic environment at the EU level. Our associations fully support its objectives and the angling associations work at national level to ensure a proper implementation of the rules and to encourage the development of new projects to protect the rivers’ ecosystems. 

However, the latest reports from the European Commission have proved that the EU Member States have failed to reach the environmental objectives that had been set in the WFD. 

The Water Framework Directive will now enter a process of review in which we want to make sure that the final objectives will not be watered-down, and this event aims at raising awareness about the need to mobilise the environmental-friendly voices in this process and at launching a common strategy of the environmental NGOs on this process.