“For the first time, the two countries decided it was necessary to go further in terms of coordination, articulation and information sharing in situations of drought,” Moreira da Silva told the joint press conference.
The minister explained how the commission set up to implement the water flow agreement between the two countries had now been given a mandate to ensure this heightened cooperation takes place.
Moreira da Silva furthermore said that the two countries would also be advancing with a new monitoring network and correspondingly submitting a budget for European Union funding in order to implement a new network “with a greater focus on the issue of quality and not just of quantity.”
In turn, his Spanish peer, Garcia Tejerina, highlighted how much progress had already been made in terms of managing the water flows between the two countries in recent years that she termed “an example at the international level.”
The Spanish environment minister added that such cooperation initiatives, alongside a greater focus on quality and the ecological balance of water basins, were of particular concern against a background of climate change.