The European Commission has published a Special Report which says further and more effective action is needed to combat eutrophication in the Baltic Sea.

The Report, produced by the European Court of Auditors, says the Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas and that combating eutrophication is seen to pose a significant challenge.

The Sea is bordered by eight EU Member States - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden - and Russia. The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most polluted seas.

The 2008 marine strategy framework directive aims to achieve a good environmental status of the EU’s marine waters by 2020. For the Baltic Sea, the relevant convention is the Helsinki Convention (governed by the Helsinki Commission (Helcom)) and its Baltic Sea action plan, which requires the reduction of nutrient loads from the signatory countries.

In 2009, the European Council adopted a macro-regional strategy, namely the European Union strategy for the Baltic Sea region, aiming, in particular, to foster environmental protection, including the reduction of nutrient loads, by promoting increased cooperation between neighbouring countries and innovative solutions.

The main sources of nutrient loads causing eutrophication are agriculture and urban waste water. In the 2007-2013 period, the EU contribution to waste water collection and treatment projects in the five Member States bordering the Baltic Sea benefiting from EU support in this field was 4.6 billion euro. Rural development measures, including water protection, to all eight Baltic Sea coastal Member States amounted to 9.9 billion euro.

The Court’s audit answers the question whether the EU actions have been effective in helping Member States to reduce nutrient loads into the Baltic Sea. The overall conclusion is that these actions have led to limited progress towards nutrient reduction in the Baltic Sea.

Member States' plans 'lack ambition' and measures are based on insufficient information

The Report says the Member States’ plans for achieving Helcom nutrient reductions lack ambition as they focus on ‘basic measures’ for implementing EU directives in relation to the specific activities causing nutrient pollution, mainly urban waste water and agriculture.

Less focus is put on measures for the control of diffuse sources of nutrients and on ‘supplementary measures’ as set out in the water framework directive. The Courts says the measures are established on the basis of insufficient information and they also lack targets and appropriate indicators for the assessment of achievements made in reducing nutrient loads into waters.

While some actions to reduce nutrient loads from urban agglomerations have led to a reduction of nutrients, despite significant EU funding, the implementation of the directive is delayed in the Member States which joined the EU in 2004, according to the Report. In addition, not all of the Baltic Sea Member States which were required to comply with the directive by 2012 do so. The Court has also criticised the Commission's follow-up of Member State implementation of the directive, saying it "has not been timely."

The report also says that implementation of the nitrates directive by Baltic Sea Member States is not fully effective. Relevant areas are not properly defined and the requirements set by Member States in their action programmes are not strict enough.

Commenting on the European Union strategy for the Baltic Sea region, while this is raising the political importance of the Baltic Sea's environmental status and of regional cooperation, the report says that to date, its added value for nutrient input reduction is difficult to assess.

Implementation of EU actions by the Member States has led to limited progress

The report concludes that implementation of EU actions by the Member States has led to limited progress towards reducing nutrient inputs into the Baltic Sea. Investments in waste water infrastructure have been only partly effective, agricultural measures are not commensurate with the scale of the pressure and are insufficiently targeted and the added value of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea is difficult to assess.

The Court of Auditors have made a number of recommendations on what the European Commission should do to address the issue, including:

• require that Member States define programmes of measures which enable them to reach measurable targets for reducing nutrient loads in order to achieve the objectives of the marine strategy framework and the water framework directives;
• require that Member States reliably and consistently assess and monitor nutrient loads in their river basins and nutrient inputs into the Baltic Sea. The Member States should:
• collect information on the cost-effectiveness of nutrient load reduction measures in order to have a robust analysis for establishing future programmes of measures;
• encourage Member States to lay down and enforce legal obligations for households to connect to existing sewage networks;  
• require that Member States implement a sustainable waste water tariff policy in order to enable the correct maintenance and renewal of assets which should take into account the polluter pays principle and the affordability of water services;
• decrease the time needed to assess compliance with the urban waste water treatment directive;
• continue to promote projects aimed at reducing the nutrient loads into the Baltic Sea from Russia and Belarus by focusing more closely on key polluters identified by Helcom (such as the Kaliningrad area);
• set stricter nutrient standards for effluents than those laid down in the urban waste water treatment directive for areas that drain into waters failing to reach nutrient conditions consistent with water framework directive and marine strategy framework directive good status.

Click here to read the Court of Auditors Special Report in full