EU Committee of the Regions encourages participation in Water Erasmus
The Committee of the Regions' Opinion on the Fitness check of the Water Framework Directive, Groundwater Directive, Environmental Quality Standards Directive and Floods Directive, adopted on 2 July 2020, highlights Aqua Publica Europea's Water Erasmus initiative as a best practice to support the implementation of EU water legislation and the improvement of water management.
On 2 July 2020, the Committee of the Regions adopted its Opinion on the Fitness check of the Water Framework Directive, Groundwater Directive, Environmental Quality Standards Directive and Floods Directive (read here).
The Opinion highlights the potential of Aqua Publica Europea's Water Erasmus initiative to support the implementation of EU water legislation and the improvement of water management. The Committee of the Regions:
"Encourages national, regional and local authorities with publicly-owned water utilities to participate in the Water Erasmus initiative allowing technical staff to visit counterparts in other Member States and learn from their water management practices. Exchanges of this kind, as well as other initiatives such as technical workshops, should be scaled up, as they provide an opportunity to raise awareness, foster dialogue, learn about solutions and build capacity"
Water Erasmus is an innovative way to foster mutual learning amongst the network of public water operators through bilateral staff exchanges. Aqua Publica Europea launched the initiative to facilitate European cooperation by offering the opportunity for technical staff from member operators to travel and meet their peers to discuss issues of common interest, exchange expertise, visit infrastructure and launch joint projects. Focusing on the idea that knowledge circulates with the people, Water Erasmus contributes to building long-term skills, as well as a common understanding of the mission of European public services, a building block of our shared European future.
The aim of the initiative is threefold:
- strengthen the capacities of public water operators to address common challenges through peer-to-peer learning
- develop a shared culture of water management, based on the values of efficiency, affordability, innovativeness and on the strong involvement of elected officials and citizens in strategic decision-making
- contribute to the realisation of European environmental and social objectives through joint projects.
