MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Water crisis in the province of Enna, compliance with EU legislation on sustainable water management and respect for the right of access to water – E-002008/2024(ASW)

1. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) [1] supports Member States and regions in improving water management systems and infrastructures. Under the Regional Programme Sicily ERDF 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 and the National Programme Infrastructures and Networks ERDF 2014-2020, some EUR 460 million have been allocated to support sustainable water management in Sicily, with priority for infrastructural interventions reducing losses in the water supply network. These investments concern new and upgraded water supply networks, improvements to reservoirs and the reuse of wastewater.

While Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan allocates EUR 4.8 billion to enhance water supply management through targeted projects, the Council Implementing Decision Annex does not allocate resources specifically to the province of Enna. Any allocation to Enna is a decision of national and regional authorities.

2. According to the Common Provisions Regulation[2] (CPR), the selection and funding of operations is the responsibility of the regional or national authorities managing the programmes. Furthermore, the CPR lays down enabling conditions for Member States to access the ERDF with a view to ensuring that the necessary prerequisites are met for the effective and efficient implementation of a selected specific objective.

For the Regional Programme Sicily ERDF 2021-2027, the enabling condition ‘2.5 Updated planning for required investments in water and wastewater sectors’ is not yet fulfilled; therefore, payments of EU contributions to this sector have not started.

The Commission monitors the programmes’ implementation and progress towards the fulfilment of the applicable enabling conditions in regular meetings with the managing authorities.

• [1] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/funding/erdf_en
• [2] Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund Plus, the Cohesion Fund, the Just Transition Fund and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund and financial rules for those and for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Internal Security Fund and the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa Policy.