Draft final report of the WG F 14 workshop on objectives, measures and prioritisation

Transcription

1 15 th MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION WORKING GROUP F ON FLOODS LOCATION: BENCZUR HOTEL, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY DAY 1: 14:00 TO 18:00 TUESDAY 1 APRIL 2014 DAY 2 9:00 TO 12:30 WEDNESDAY 2 APRIL Welcome and introduction to Day 1 Mark Adamson welcomed the participants to the 15 th Working Group (WG) F meeting and thanked the Hungarian hosts. Balazs Medgyesy, the Hungarian Governmental Commissioner of the Danube macro-regional strategy, welcomed the participants and provided an overview of the importance of flood risk management in Hungary and the usefulness of the Floods Directive (FD). 2. Approval of the agenda Mark Adamson outlined some minor changes to the agenda. Item 9 on the links between the FD and Water Framework Directive (WFD) was moved forward. The NL asked about a clarification on how the comments made by Member States (MS) were taken into account, and if MSs would receive any feedback on the consultation on a concept paper on the assessment of MSs' reports on Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps. It was agreed to address this under agenda point 6a. The agenda was adopted. 3. Approval of the minutes of 14 th WG F The draft minutes of the previous WG F held on 17 October 2013 were circulated in November Comments from the MSs and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) had been taken into account. The minutes were approved. NL requested that the minutes of this meeting were shorter and that the actions were summarised at the end of them. 4. WG F thematic workshop and information exchange 4a Report on the workshop on trans-boundary issues A brief review of the previous day s workshop on trans-boundary issues was given. This covered issues such as: How MSs deal with these issues; Best practice and what to avoid; Implementation of the FD. Trans-boundary management of floods should be founded on good working relationships that need to be flexible. There was a request made to all relevant MSs to produce examples of good practice with regards to trans-boundary flood management. The report on the workshop will be available to the WG by the end of May 2014 for comments. 4b Draft final report of the WG F 14 workshop on objectives, measures and prioritisation Marloes Bakker gave a brief presentation of the 14 th WG F workshop that focused on the FP7 research project STAR-FLOOD. The workshop was attended by some 50 participants and included feedback on a questionnaire filled in by MSs. The main finding was that the FD is implemented and measures are prioritised in different ways in different MSs. The STAR-FLOOD team distributed another country-specific questionnaire. The STAR-FLOOD team and COM requested all MSs to fill in the questionnaire. Mark Adamson asked if there were any further comments from MSs on the draft report. There were no further comments. The workshop report was adopted as final. IE asked if there are any recommendations or guidance with respect to the level of detail that the European Commission (COM) expects for measures for longer term planning (i.e. measures that will not be implemented for several cycles of the FD)? COM said every MS has its own approach on how to implement the FD and reduce flood risks. COM would expect that the level of detail in the Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMP) and measures would reflect the degree of progress within each MS, with respect to dealing with flood risk. COM said that this is also partly dependent on budgetary cycles and how far in advance it was practicable to do this, hence it depends on the circumstances of each of the MSs.

2 4c Workshop on decision making under uncertainty 13 th WG F receipt of final report for approval David Porter had to cancel his attendance at the meeting. The final version of the workshop report had been circulated, taking into account comments from CZ and SE. The 13 th WG F workshop report on decision making under uncertainty was adopted as final. 4d Discussion on the follow-up from past workshops - Consolidated outcomes open issues There are a few items still open, five relate to FD and WFD links. IT will host a workshop on FD and WFD links in October These five issues will be left open until this workshop. Other open issues include: The Floods Database that JRC is preparing; Two issues related to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the opportunity of MSs making use of the CAP in funding flood risk management issues. There was an action on the COM to provide an update on this. Two other issues were left open. These relate to getting examples of Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) from MSs and the potential topic on resilience and emergency response. COM informed participants of the draft guidance on how to use CAP greening and Rural Development Programme (RDP) to implement the WFD. The table in the draft guidance is relevant to WG F and will be circulated once filled in by the Agriculture WG. 4e Future workshops The WFD and FD workshop in October 2014 will discuss the results of the resource paper. The proposed times and date are from lunchtime on 27 October 2014 to lunchtime on 29 October 2014 in Rome. Mark Adamson thanked IT for offering to host the workshop. EL stated that 28 October 2014 is a Greek national holiday and asked if it was possible to move the meeting. IT will check to see if the dates of 29 to 31 October 2014 are possible. ES offered to assist with the organisation of this workshop. Mark Adamson asked that if other MS wanted to be on the organising committee to please come forward in next two weeks. The European Water Association (EWA) suggested that a workshop on awareness, resilience and preparedness would be appropriate given the recent flood events in many parts of Europe. The UK stated that they could organise a workshop on these topics in UK suggested that a workshop on how climate change should be dealt in the next two cycles of the FD would be appropriate. Mark Adamson said that there had already been a workshop on climate change in EWA stated that these two topics went together well. A workshop on awareness, resilience and preparedness taking into account climate change was proposed. SE said that could assist with the organisation of this workshop. No dates had been set for It may be possible to hold such a workshop in Brussels in spring IE supported the proposal for the workshop. COM suggested that the dates need to be fixed now to book the conference centre. The suggestion was made to have two one day events (i.e. the workshop and the Working Group F meeting) in Brussels on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 March COM will investigate booking a room for these dates. Mark Adamson suggested to have a full thematic workshop in early 2016 looking back at the first full cycle of the FD to consider experience and lessons learned and to look forward to the second cycle of implementation. AT supported this idea and could possibly host the workshop. The UK, NL and DE all supported this idea. 5 Presentation of recent floods in Europe 5a Recent flooding in England Roger Orpin of the UK Government s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) gave a presentation on the recent flooding in England following the wettest winter for 250 years. Flooding had resulted from various sources including: groundwater; coastal; surface water; and fluvial flooding between December 2013 and January EL asked how the tidal surge in the UK was generated? The UK stated that the tidal surge was a result of a combination of high winds, low atmospheric pressure and exceptionally high tides. IE made

3 the point that objectives in flood risk management often change following large floods and that some of the theory and constraints are forgotten when a prime minister says this cannot happen again. The Rhine Commission asked three questions (i) How were the number of flooded properties counted? (ii) Did the number of protected properties include properties taking individual flood protection measures? (iii) How will this event affect implementation of FD? The UK answered these questions as follows: (i) Local Authorities identified which properties were flooded together with field teams; (ii) Property level protection is relatively rare in the UK at present. Properties are generally protected by temporary or permanent flood defences; (iii) This is not clear at present until a review has been completed. For example the new plan undertaken for the Somerset Levels could be included in the relevant FRMP. SE asked if there were enough resources for the implementation of temporary barriers for flood defence? The UK stated that there was probably not enough resources at present but this will be reviewed from experience on the ground. IE stated that in the Irish Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA), rural areas that are at risk of flooding but that do not represent a significant flood risk has raised issues such as to what values are put on farmland. EL asked if the UK had any ideas or proposals as to how to deal with groundwater floods? The UK stated that groundwater flooding was difficult to deal with and that the key adaptation measure is to make the properties more resilient to flooding. 5b A short review of recent flooding in France A review was given of the recent flooding in France. This occurred in the Pyrenees June 2013, in October 2013 there was flooding in the south of France, whilst December 2013 saw coastal flood in Brittany and fluvial flooding in the Alps. EL asked how the frequency of coastal surge was calculated for the flood maps? FR stated that the sea level for coastal floods with a medium probability is calculated by combining the storm surge and with a design tide level based on a statistical analysis of tidal levels recorded in the main harbours in France and then adding the wave setup depending on coastal configuration Research Guiseppina Monacelli provided information on relevant research initiatives. She said that there had been many calls on water issues including water innovation that had been inserted under social challenges and how these contribute to water policy in Europe. Agenda 2015 is currently under consideration. 9. Links between the FD and WFD implementation 9a Progress report on the resources document on the links between the FD and WFD Darren Lumbroso of HR Wallingford provided an overview of the resource document on the links between the FD and WFD. This had been approved by Water Directors at their meeting in December This is a live document. There is an action on all MSs to provide examples of projects that could be included in future versions of the document and for the workshop to be held in October 2014 in Rome. UK stated that they had found the document very useful and had passed it on to their WFD colleagues. The WWF stated that they are currently preparing material on the implementation of the FD and WFD and would like to contribute to the workshop in October HU asked if the WWF s document would be specific to Hungary or more general. The WWF stated that it would be a combination of both. NL suggested having another workshop in 2016 looking at the priorities and synergies between the FD and WFD. AT asked when the resource document would be revised. COM said that the document was likely to remain in its current state until 2016; however, this position could be reviewed at the Rome workshop in October The Rhine Commission stated that it had discussed a document on the thematic synergies between the FD and WFD. Rhine Commission said that it would 1 There was an oversight in the numbering of items in draft agenda v.4

4 provide this information to WG F. DE stated that they had a useful document produced by the Permanent Working Group on Water Issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (Bund/Länder-Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser (LAWA)) that includes the LAWA list of measures. This document classifies the mutual effects of measures (classified by measure type) under the FD and the WFD by assessing their relevance in terms of the other directive. This document will be translated into English before the 16 th WG F meeting. 6 Floods Directive implementation 6a Update on implementation With respect to the minutes of the 14 th WG F COM is looking at the assessment of flood hazard and risk maps, as well as FRMPs. COM has concentrated on flood hazard and risk maps, hence the concept paper is only related to these. COM stated that the schemas are largely completed. The objective was to get reactions from MSs because the assessment is going to take place between now and November COM stated that there may not be scope to discuss this at the next workshop. The draft concept paper will be received earlier. NL asked how the COM was going to proceed with the comments? COM said that it aimed to proceed and to do this in April. DE stated that its confirmation of receipts regarding reporting under Article 6 of the FD was on its way to the COM. SI said that the address of its Competent Authority (CA) was changed frequently and they asked if it was necessary to report this. COM stated that an was sufficient to report the changes. EL stated that it had reported its CA on 19 December COM said that it had taken note of this. The Rhine Commission asked if there was any new information on reporting Article 6. COM stated that there was no new information to date. With regards the NL s query relating to how the comments made by MS were taken into account, and if MS would receive any feedback on the consultation on a concept paper on the assessment of MS's reports on Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Maps, the COM stated that comments of the MS would be taken into account in the greatest possible extent; there would be no further exchange on the subject at this point. 6b Assessment of the PFRA and APSFR: Update on progress and results COM gave a presentation on the draft assessment of the PFRA/ASPFR reporting by MSs. COM apologised for the non-generation of automatic receipts. COM stated that it is important to check that the Areas of Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFR) have been included in the maps, where this is not obvious the COM will seek assistance from MSs. COM stated the presentation reflected the situation at the end of December 2013 and further information has been included since then. The COM apologised to HR who may not have received an regarding the overview. COM stated that 22 MSs had reported Units of Management (UoMs) to WISE by June COM has assumed that MSs who had not reported these had the same UoMs as the WFD. The PFRA deadline was 22 March The COM stated that 26 MSs had reported to WISE by June PT had not reported to WISE but had reported to the COM by letter. Regarding the assessment of the PFRAs, IE asked if individual consultants had assessed each individual MS? COM stated that they had. IE said that it was important that a check was made of the consistency of the comments to make sure that each MS had been assessed in a consistent manner. HU asked if the experts doing the evaluation will have direct contact with the MS? COM stated that they will not. SI asked if it is obligatory to report the shape and vector files for the 1 in 100 year flood? COM stated that the medium return period shape files need to be reported as the minimum. COM also added that it depends on how MSs are going to report the maps (e.g. PDF, digital data etc.). SI stated that they had reported links to PDF versions of their maps and reported them to CIRCA. SI asked if it was a requirement to report shape files as well? COM will provide an answer to SI in the near future. SK asked if it is possible to update the PFRA and APSFRs? SK has identified more APSFRs since carrying out their flood mapping and they would like to update their PFRA. COM stated that if the information was important, then the PFRA should be updated.

5 6c Directives relevant to the FD COM gave a presentation on the Directives relevant to the FD. HU asked if it is necessary to do the same compulsory public consultation that was undertaken for the WFD for the FRMP? COM stated that there should be a public consultation for the FRMP. The COM noted that Article 10(3) of the FD states that MS shall coordinate involvement of interested parties, as appropriate, i.e. there is flexibility for MSs as to how this coordination takes place. COM stated that a draft of the FRMP is needed for the consultation. HU said that if this was carried out in the same way as the WFD this could have an impact on their deadlines. COM said that consultation for WFD and FD should be coordinated. EL stated that the FD and WFD links document does not provide a timetable for the consultation. COM acknowledged that there needed to be a reasonable time frame for consultation. NL had a question concerning the timetable for the production of the draft plan? The UK had similar comments to NL. The UK stated that the public consultation would be less than six months. The COM stated that all opportunities to coordinate the FD and WFD consultations should be taken. COM asked UK to send them their queries regarding their consultation process. 8. Information exchange on Flood Directive implementation 8a Swedish national strategy for the protection of vital societal functions in the context of floods SE gave a presentation on the Swedish national strategy for the protection of vital societal functions in the context of floods. SE has produced various useful documents as part of this strategy. Mark Adamson asked if SE could circulate a link to these documents. SE agreed to circulate a link to the documents. 8b Definition of methods referring to objectives, measures and prioritisation AT described the federal blueprint for FRMPs that includes a catalogue of 22 measures and their method of prioritisation. SI asked if a public consultation is carried out before or after consultation with neighbouring countries? AT said trans-boundary issues were coordinated via the relevant river basin commissions. NE asked how measures will be reflected in the FRMP? AT said that the prioritisation will be carried out on types of measures not at a single measure level. 11. Floods Directive reporting Barbro Näslund-Landenmark took over the chairing of the meeting from Mark Adamson. 11a Flood risk management schemas Atkins provided an overview of the FRMP schemas. Atkins stated that the testing phase of the FRMP schemas had been agreed at the 14 th WG F meeting. The tools are available at the FD resource page. The following MSs had volunteered to test the tools: AT, UK, IE, DE, FR, ES. This would be carried out between 7 April 2014 and 2 June Atkins stated that the schema and database had been updated. There was no reason for MSs to resubmit information unless there had been changes to it. The UK asked about the 2 June 2014 deadline? Atkins said that the tools will be updated continuously. The 2 June 2014 is the deadline for comments and testing. HU asked if the schemas would be finalised by 2 June 2014? Atkins stated that the revised schemas will be available to MSs by 2 June SE asked Atkins to also include the co-chairs as copy when they sent the invitation letter for the FRMP schema testing period. Unfortunately personnel shortages has led to issues of capacity at the German Federal Institute for Hydrology (BfG), which would undertake the testing for DE. Owing to this personnel shortage, DE will not be able to participate fully, but still support the Commission and Atkins in the testing phase of the FRMP reporting. Hence, DE will be able to check the schema with regard to the contents and the technical plausibility, but will not be able to support the testing of the tools and the database.

6 11b WISE map viewer Atkins presented the WISE map viewer for PFRA/APSFR. There are currently some technical issues; however, the map viewer should be available soon. A walk through the viewer was presented. COM asked if for the European overview map there was a need for MSs to provide any further information? Atkins stated that there was no further information required. Mark Adamson asked if there is an obligation for MSs to report shape files? Atkins said that they do not need shape files; however, it is mandatory for shape files to be in the national repository. SE gave feedback on the reporting saying that they found reading the guidance time consuming. SE asked if there could be one guidance document for the FD? Atkins agreed that the number of guidance documents was confusing and can be time consuming to use. However, there is a need for all these documents. There will be work done to make some aspects easier to use, for example some documents will be removed. Mark Adamson said that it was important that the old guidance is left on site so that MSs can still access them. AT said that in Austria there is one UoM that does not have an APSFR. It was not clear how to report no APSFR for this UoM. AT asked how this will this be resolved? Atkins agreed that there is no field for reporting this. Atkins will find a solution to this issue. Mark Adamson reminded the MSs to send an to Atkins if they wanted to be part in testing. 12. Related EU policies and EC activities 12a Study on economic and social benefits of environmental protection and resource efficiency related to European semester COM explained the European Semester and Greening the European Semester. Floods are beginning to have a macro economic effect on the EU. COM detailed the headline findings and that there is a feeling that 150 billion (between 2002 and 2013) may be an underestimate of economic damage caused by floods. 12c Updates on relevant EU policies COM gave an update on relevant EU policies and initiatives. JRC is driving a Global Flood Partnership (see to stimulate improved flood risk management including training at a global levels aimed at regions where there are limited resources. All MSs are invited to be involved. SE asked if the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) was involved? JRC confirmed that they were. ES stated that they were concerned about the INSPIRE Directive because there will be a lot of work to harmonise maps. COM stated that for every legislative act there is an impact assessment carried out. The INSPIRE Directive is not new. The COM stated that it was moving to an INSPIRE environment. COM would be happy to take specific questions from ES related to floods. Attendees at next INSPIRE meeting will report back to WG F. 12b Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) pilot project Dennis Collentine of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences gave a presentation on the NWRM pilot project. There is a database and a practical guide that are being developed, as well as a network of good practice. More information is available from the project website The NWRM project is interested in hearing the views of WG F on NWRMs. HU asked if there was going to be a Danube workshop as part of the project? Dennis Collentine said that this would be in August 2014 and participants can register their interest via the website. EWA stated that benefits from NWRMs can collectively add up and NWRMs could be promoted as a climate change adaptation measure. IE asked if the benefits had been estimated as well as the social impacts? Dennis Collentine said that this had not been done yet. There have been some small studies in North England but their transferability is limited. Mark Adamson said that it would be of interest to have a further presentation on NWRM from Dennis Collentine at the Rome workshop in October 2014.

7 13. Recent and upcoming flood related projects conferences and other events 13a Breaking fresh ground in protecting alpine environments Flood Risk Management Plans Rudolf Hornich of the Land Steiermark in Austria provided an overview of the conference that was held on 25 to 26 March 2014 in Graz. 13b FP7 projects relevant to floods COM presented a review of relevant FP7 studies. Derk van Ree of Deltares provided an overview of the FloodProbe study (see There were opportunities for MSs to join projects as an associate partner. 14 Any other business 14a A CEPRI admission to WG F as a technical interest organisation COM stated that the Centre Européen de Prévention de Risque d'inondation. (CEPRI) had been admitted to WG F. Unfortunately a representative from CEPRI had not been unable to attend the meeting owing to an issue with their flight. 14b Date of next meetings and workshop COM will discuss with IT whether the week beginning 6 October 2014 is an option for holding the workshop. COM said that it would look to book rooms in Brussels for the following dates in 2015: 11 to 12 March and 13 to14 October c Other business IE said that it was difficult to find reports on CIRCA and that it would be useful to have the final reports in one thematic location within CIRCA? IE asked if within the WG F folder there could be a separate folder for workshop reports? SE these reports are available from the flood risk management website. Mark Adamson asked all the MSs to fill in the STAR-FLOOD questionnaire. COM closed meeting and thanked HU for hosting a successful workshop and WG meeting.

8 Summary of actions resulting from the minutes Action and date to be completed where appropriate Provision of examples of good practice with regards to trans-boundary flood management. Provision of comments on the report on the workshop on trans-boundary issues (to be provided within two weeks of receipt of workshop report) Issues relating to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the opportunity of MSs making use of the CAP in funding flood risk management issues outstanding from previous workshops Possibility of a thematic workshop to held in early 2016 looking back at the first full cycle of the FD. Possible location Austria. MSs and other organisations to provide examples of projects for future versions of the FD-WFD resource document and the workshop to be held in Rome in October 2014 (to be provided before mid-september 2014) WWF to contribute to the workshop on the links between FD and WFD in October 2014 (contribution to be finalised before mid-september 2014) Rhine Commission document on the thematic synergies between the FD and WFD to be provided to WG F (to be provided by end of July 2014) German document of the Permanent Working Group on Water Issues of the Federal States and the Federal Government (Bund/Länder- Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser (LAWA)), the LAWA list of measures to be translated into English and provided to WG F (to be provided by end of August 2014) Assistance with the organisation of the workshop on the links between FD and WFD in October 2014 (to be finalised by end of June 2014) Organisation of a future workshop on awareness, resilience and preparedness taking into account climate change to be held in Brussels in spring 2015 Inclusion of Areas with Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFR) in the flood maps where this is not obvious. COM will seek assistance from relevant MSs SI query as to the requirements to report shape files for flood maps, as well as links to PDFs of maps Queries regarding the length of the FD consultation process to addressed by the COM (to be addressed before end of June 2014) SE to circulate a link to the documents produced as part of their national strategy for the protection of vital societal functions in the context of floods Testing of the FRMP schemas between 7 April and 2 June 2014 (beginning of April to mid-june 2014) An invitation letter be sent to COM by Atkins relating to the revision and testing of the FRMP schemas. Alterations to be made to the WISE map viewer so that if a UoM that does not have an Areas with Potential Significant Flood Risk (APSFR) it can be detailed in the schema MSs to Andres Bastholm of Atkins if they are interested in testing the WISE map viewer ( by mid-june2014) Invitation from JRC to MSs to participate in a new Global Flood Partnership Country/ Organisation COM AT, COM WWF RHINE COMMISSION DE ES, OTHER INTERESTED MSs UK, EWA, SE, OTHER INTERESTED MSs RELEVANT MSs COM UK, COM SE AT, UK, IE, DE 2, FR, ES ATKINS ATKINS 2 Note: DE will check the schema with regard to their contents and the technical plausibility, but will not be able to support the testing of the tools and the database owing to issues of staff capacity.

9 (see (Contact JRC before end of June 2014) Queries relating to the INSPIRE Directive related to floods from ES Attendees at next INSPIRE Directive meeting to report back to WG F Provision of views on and examples of Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) to inform the research project being carried out by Dennis Collentine (see (Provide information to Dennis Collentine before end of June 2014) Suggestions for presentations on NWRM and their relevance to links between the FD and WFD for the Rome workshop to held in October 2014 (Suggestions to be made before mid-september 2014) Registration at the Danube workshop on NWRMs to be held in August 2014 (see Joining of research projects as associate partners where relevant and applicable Finalisation of the date of the FD-WFD workshop and 16 th WG F meeting in Rome in October 2014 (finalisation of date before 31 May 2014) Booking of rooms in Brussels for meetings in March and October 2015 (before end-june 2014) Completion of the STAR-FLOOD questionnaire (before mid-may 2014) ES, COM ATTENDEES AT NEXT INSPIRE MEETING INTERESTED PARTIES COM, IT COM List of participants Mark Adamson Christine Andres Maria Angelova Agne Aruvali Marijan Babic Martine Bacik Eva Baron Andres Bastholm Danko Biondic Petr Brezina Peter Cadek Dennis Collentine Benjamin Englebert Ronnie Falconer Maria Gini Karoly Gombas Annelies Haesevoets Henri Hansen Aidan Harney Jean-Michel Helmer Jean-Charles Horlait Rudolf Hornich Office of Public Works, WG-F, Ireland KV Consultores, Spain Ministry of Environment & Water, Bulgaria Water Dept, Ministry of the Environment, Estonia Croatian Waters, Croatia Slovak Republic Ministry of Infrastructure & the Environment, Netherlands Atkins Hrvatske vode, Croatia Octra River Board, Czech Republic Slovak Water Management Company, Slovakia NWRM Pilot Project Wallonia Senior Consultant Flood Resilience, EWA, Scotland Special Secretariat for Water, Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Greece North trandanubian Water Directorate (EDUVIZIG) STAFF, Hungary Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij, Afdeling Operationaeel Waterbeheer, Belgium Division des eaux souterraines et eaux potables, Division de l hydrologie, Luxembourg Office of Public Works, Ireland Developpement-durable, Gouv, France SPW, Belgium/Wallonia Co-ordinator for Flood Risk Management, Office of the

10 Styrian Government, Austria Mikko Huokuna Finnish Environment Institute Vesikeskus, Finland Bozena Jacko Lysakova Slovak Republic Leva Jakovleva Ministry of Environmental Protection & Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia Harald Jendrike Representative of the German Federal States, Saxon State Ministry of the Environment and Agriculture Ioannis Kavvadas Policy Officer, Water Directorate-General for the Environment, COM, WG-F, European Commission Ville Keskisarja Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, Natural & Water Resources, Finland Tatjana Kolcova LVGMC, Latvia Ereifej Laurice WWF, Central Eastern Europe Max Linsen RWS service for Water, Transport & the Environment, Netherlands Darren Lumbroso HR Wallingford UK John Martin Office of Public Works, Ireland Barbro Naslund-Landenmark MSB, Sweden Clemens Neuhold Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, Austria Konstantina Nika Hellenic Special Secretariat for Water Roger Orpin Dept for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Defra UK Maria Pasztorova Water Research Institute Bratislava, Slovakia Peter Salamon JRC European Commission Francisco Javier Sanchez-Martinez Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentacion y Medio Ambriente, Spain Adrian Schmid-Breton ICPR, International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine Katharina Schwarz Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building & Nuclear Safety Sandra Sokolic Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management Directorate, Republic of Croatia Luka Stravs Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment of the Republic of Slovakia Arpad Szentivanyi General Directorate of Water Management (OVF) Hungary Nikolaos Theodosiou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Hans Van Os European Investment Bank, JASPERS Wendy Brooks Environment Agency UK Giuseppina Monacelli ISPRA, Italy Paula Stepankova TGM WRI, Czech Republic Elkahova Mohssine Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij, Afdeling Operationaeel Waterbeheer, Belgium Christian Stocker Basque County Water Agency, Spain Jorge Fureta EU Relations Unit, SOPUSA Ministry of Agriculture, Spain Pinar Bozkurthuhyuktere Ministry of Forestry & Water Affairs, Turkey Marta Brzozowska National Water Management Authority, Poland Urszula Sadowska National Water Management Authority, Poland Derk van Ree Deltares, Netherlands B. Gowcz OVF, Hungary