Five environmental organisations filed a complaint on Tuesday (8 September) with the European Ombudsman over the EU’s decision to weaken water protections, arguing they did so at the behest of the mining industry.
The complaint takes aim at the EU’s decision to “review and revise” the water directive and address “potential bottlenecks” in accessing critical raw materials.
In May the commission already published guidance showing miners ways to get a permit under the existing rules, and it is pressing ahead with further rewrites.
The issue, according to the NGOs, is that no impact assessment and no public consultation were conducted before the commitment to weaken water protection rules was made.
“Simply put, this revision comes out of nowhere,” said Irene Duque Femenía, a senior policy officer at Wetlands International Europe.
