Chapter 9
Why, What, How?—The Assessment
Framework
9.1 The Need for an Assessment of the Stability
of Co-riparian Relations in the European Union
The need for a critical review of the legal, institutional and political stability of
co-riparian relations within the European Union is underpinned by a series of overlapping factors. Given the historic dependence of water governance on the reliability
of historic data and rigid sovereignty concepts, changing hydrological conditions
should warrant for a regular review even at the best of times (Cosens 2010). It is true
that the European Union boasts one of the most elaborate and extensive transboundary water governance regimes in the world. At the same, however, it also suffers from
a series of structural deficiencies such as the uneven interaction among the various
layers of governance (UNECE, EU, basin, bilateral), the purely procedural nature
of the cooperation requirements under EU law, the dominance of water pollution
and ecological questions, etc. (see Sects. 8.3.6 and 8.4). Consequently, the European
model of transboundary water governance well deserves a comprehensive fitness
check regardless of its relative success vis-à-vis other regional regimes in the world.
The necessity of review becomes even more compelling, if the above problemsetting is put into a historic context. It is common knowledge that the creation of new
water cooperation treaties and institutions usually takes very long periods of time.
As a result, it often happens that by the time a new (or modified) water governance
schemes is finally put in place it no longer caters for newly emerging hydrological
realities (Wolf 2009). The evolution of the contemporary European transboundary
cooperation framework is a case in point. Today’s basin treaties have evolved in
response to the unfettered pollution and morphological alteration of transboundary
freshwaters on either side of the Iron Curtain until the late 1980s. The backbone
of the EU’s internal regime, the Water Framework Directive, therefore reflects the
water quality challenges core EU member states were facing in the final decades
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
G. Baranyai, European Water Law and Hydropolitics, Water Governance - Concepts,
Methods, and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22541-4_9
115
Why, What, How?—The Assessment
Framework
9.1 The Need for an Assessment of the Stability
of Co-riparian Relations in the European Union
The need for a critical review of the legal, institutional and political stability of
co-riparian relations within the European Union is underpinned by a series of overlapping factors. Given the historic dependence of water governance on the reliability
of historic data and rigid sovereignty concepts, changing hydrological conditions
should warrant for a regular review even at the best of times (Cosens 2010). It is true
that the European Union boasts one of the most elaborate and extensive transboundary water governance regimes in the world. At the same, however, it also suffers from
a series of structural deficiencies such as the uneven interaction among the various
layers of governance (UNECE, EU, basin, bilateral), the purely procedural nature
of the cooperation requirements under EU law, the dominance of water pollution
and ecological questions, etc. (see Sects. 8.3.6 and 8.4). Consequently, the European
model of transboundary water governance well deserves a comprehensive fitness
check regardless of its relative success vis-à-vis other regional regimes in the world.
The necessity of review becomes even more compelling, if the above problemsetting is put into a historic context. It is common knowledge that the creation of new
water cooperation treaties and institutions usually takes very long periods of time.
As a result, it often happens that by the time a new (or modified) water governance
schemes is finally put in place it no longer caters for newly emerging hydrological
realities (Wolf 2009). The evolution of the contemporary European transboundary
cooperation framework is a case in point. Today’s basin treaties have evolved in
response to the unfettered pollution and morphological alteration of transboundary
freshwaters on either side of the Iron Curtain until the late 1980s. The backbone
of the EU’s internal regime, the Water Framework Directive, therefore reflects the
water quality challenges core EU member states were facing in the final decades
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
G. Baranyai, European Water Law and Hydropolitics, Water Governance - Concepts,
Methods, and Practice, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22541-4_9
115