Chapter 8
Transboundary Water Governance
in the European Union
8.1 A Distinct European Model of Transboundary Water
Governance
8.1.1 Drivers of Water Cooperation
The normative and institutional features of transboundary water governance in the
EU are determined by a number of specific hydrological and political conditions
that result in a sui generis European regime. First of all, as shown in the previous chapter, the natural hydro-geographical circumstances prevailing in the EU render most of its members heavily exposed to the challenges of transboundary water
management. Such high political complexity is, however, compensated by relatively
low hydrological complexity, i.e. most of Europe’s international rivers—apart from
the largely arid transboundary basins of the Iberian Peninsula—are relatively wellwatered with moderate inter-seasonal variations in river flow. Moreover, co-riparian
relations within the EU have lately been largely spared from the dominant drivers
of water conflicts elsewhere, such as dramatic increase in national water use, excessive manipulation of river flow, sky-rocketing urbanisation, large-scale unilateral
infrastructure development or runaway climate change.
The strong intra-basin interdependencies and the relatively benign nature of the
collective action problems have created a positive political constellation that supports
bilateral and basin-wide cooperation. As a result, the European Union has become the
cradle and the global laboratory of institutionalised cross-border water management.
This is also largely attributable to the fact that the EU is the most elaborate supranational political-economic association in the world. Member states’ sovereignty
is significantly constrained by the EU’s founding treaties and the jurisprudence of
the European Court of Justice. Member states cooperate routinely on a multitude
of issues through established multilateral channels. Such close and highly institutionalised horizontal collaboration creates complex interlinkages among issues
and countries that act as a natural break against the emergence of exceedingly
© 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_8
79
Transboundary Water Governance
in the European Union
8.1 A Distinct European Model of Transboundary Water
Governance
8.1.1 Drivers of Water Cooperation
The normative and institutional features of transboundary water governance in the
EU are determined by a number of specific hydrological and political conditions
that result in a sui generis European regime. First of all, as shown in the previous chapter, the natural hydro-geographical circumstances prevailing in the EU render most of its members heavily exposed to the challenges of transboundary water
management. Such high political complexity is, however, compensated by relatively
low hydrological complexity, i.e. most of Europe’s international rivers—apart from
the largely arid transboundary basins of the Iberian Peninsula—are relatively wellwatered with moderate inter-seasonal variations in river flow. Moreover, co-riparian
relations within the EU have lately been largely spared from the dominant drivers
of water conflicts elsewhere, such as dramatic increase in national water use, excessive manipulation of river flow, sky-rocketing urbanisation, large-scale unilateral
infrastructure development or runaway climate change.
The strong intra-basin interdependencies and the relatively benign nature of the
collective action problems have created a positive political constellation that supports
bilateral and basin-wide cooperation. As a result, the European Union has become the
cradle and the global laboratory of institutionalised cross-border water management.
This is also largely attributable to the fact that the EU is the most elaborate supranational political-economic association in the world. Member states’ sovereignty
is significantly constrained by the EU’s founding treaties and the jurisprudence of
the European Court of Justice. Member states cooperate routinely on a multitude
of issues through established multilateral channels. Such close and highly institutionalised horizontal collaboration creates complex interlinkages among issues
and countries that act as a natural break against the emergence of exceedingly
© 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_8
79