104
8 Transboundary Water Governance in the European Union
Finally, as mentioned above, the European Commission has been allocated a
somewhat unusual mediation role under the Water Framework Directive. However,
as it will be discussed below, this mediatory position is truly alien to the Commission’s
usual working methods and, thus far, has served very little practical purpose in the
reconciliation of co-riparian differences (see Sect. 10.5.3).
8.3.5.2 European Court of Justice
The EU’s highest court of law, the Court of Justice of the European Union or as
commonly called: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is a crucial player in the
enforcement of the Union’s water policy. Under the TFEU it has the exclusive competence, in the framework of the infringement procedure initiated by the Commission,
to establish weather a member state has complied with its legal obligations under
EU law or not (Art. 258.). If non-compliance is established, yet the member state
concerned fails to live up to the judgement, the Commission may initiate a second
court procedure as a result of which the ECJ may impose a significant financial
penalty on the erring state (Art. 260. Also see Sect. 10.5.3). Under a separate mechanism—the so-called preliminary ruling procedure—national courts may also seize
the ECJ, asking it to provide binding interpretations on abstract questions of EU
law (Art. 267.2.). Finally, the European Court of Justice has exclusive jurisdiction
to adjudicate bilateral disputes among member states concerning the application of
EU law (Art. 259.). As discussed in detail later, actions before the ECJ initiated by
member states against each other are extremely rare and it is unlikely that this avenue
will ever become an effective mechanism for the settlement of co-riparian conflicts
(see Sect. 10.5.3).
Given the prominence of water issues in EU law and the outstanding complexity
and costs of European water law, the ECJ hears a relatively large number of waterrelated cases. Since the elapse of the transposition deadline of the WFD in 2002, it
has adjudicated over 20 cases that were connected to this single directive.
62 Official
statistics show that most of such procedures concern pollution issues only (typically
due to the lack of adequate waste water treatment or diffuse nitrates pollution). The
judgements, however, hardly go beyond the establishment of the facts and the condemnation of the erring member state.
63 Far less is the number of the cases launched
by national courts seeking the interpretation of actual regulatory provisions (out of
the 20 + judgements relating to WFD only 7 were preliminary rulings).
64 There have
been, however, a small number of cases where the ECJ did make a critical impact
technical reports. The CIS is supported by a specific electronic water information database (Water
Information System for Europe—WISE).
62 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060 (accessed 12 February 2019).
63 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/law/pdf/statistics_sector.pdf (accessed 12 February 2019).
64 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060 ( accessed 12 February 2019).
8 Transboundary Water Governance in the European Union
Finally, as mentioned above, the European Commission has been allocated a
somewhat unusual mediation role under the Water Framework Directive. However,
as it will be discussed below, this mediatory position is truly alien to the Commission’s
usual working methods and, thus far, has served very little practical purpose in the
reconciliation of co-riparian differences (see Sect. 10.5.3).
8.3.5.2 European Court of Justice
The EU’s highest court of law, the Court of Justice of the European Union or as
commonly called: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is a crucial player in the
enforcement of the Union’s water policy. Under the TFEU it has the exclusive competence, in the framework of the infringement procedure initiated by the Commission,
to establish weather a member state has complied with its legal obligations under
EU law or not (Art. 258.). If non-compliance is established, yet the member state
concerned fails to live up to the judgement, the Commission may initiate a second
court procedure as a result of which the ECJ may impose a significant financial
penalty on the erring state (Art. 260. Also see Sect. 10.5.3). Under a separate mechanism—the so-called preliminary ruling procedure—national courts may also seize
the ECJ, asking it to provide binding interpretations on abstract questions of EU
law (Art. 267.2.). Finally, the European Court of Justice has exclusive jurisdiction
to adjudicate bilateral disputes among member states concerning the application of
EU law (Art. 259.). As discussed in detail later, actions before the ECJ initiated by
member states against each other are extremely rare and it is unlikely that this avenue
will ever become an effective mechanism for the settlement of co-riparian conflicts
(see Sect. 10.5.3).
Given the prominence of water issues in EU law and the outstanding complexity
and costs of European water law, the ECJ hears a relatively large number of waterrelated cases. Since the elapse of the transposition deadline of the WFD in 2002, it
has adjudicated over 20 cases that were connected to this single directive.
62 Official
statistics show that most of such procedures concern pollution issues only (typically
due to the lack of adequate waste water treatment or diffuse nitrates pollution). The
judgements, however, hardly go beyond the establishment of the facts and the condemnation of the erring member state.
63 Far less is the number of the cases launched
by national courts seeking the interpretation of actual regulatory provisions (out of
the 20 + judgements relating to WFD only 7 were preliminary rulings).
64 There have
been, however, a small number of cases where the ECJ did make a critical impact
technical reports. The CIS is supported by a specific electronic water information database (Water
Information System for Europe—WISE).
62 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060 (accessed 12 February 2019).
63 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/legal/law/pdf/statistics_sector.pdf (accessed 12 February 2019).
64 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060 ( accessed 12 February 2019).