In my post "Spilled water, wasted funds? – A special look at a special EU Court of Auditors report", the first one on this platform, I have presented the rather critical account of the EU Court of Auditors on the use of EU funds for water-related projects.

At the end of this article I pointed to the fact that the so-called Working Party on Structural Measures, a group of national officials dealing with EU structural funds, has been asked to draw the necessary conclusions from the report. On 4 February, this group has come to an agreement on the EU Council's conclusion on the Court of Auditors' report.

When you look into the conclusions, you'll realise that, as so often, the diplomatic reaction of the EU member states in the Council is more or less diplomatic blabla, without much value outside the minds of the officials that have drafted them.

Let's take a look what the member states have agreed on. I'll first quote each sentence from the Council conclusions and then give my "translation" of what the EU member states actually mean afterwards:

EMPHASISING that water is one of the most important resources for social and economic development and the European Union promotes sustainable development through cohesion policy, notably the Cohesion Fund and the European Regional Development Fund,

Okay, water is is quite important and the EU spends money on this.

RECALLING that according to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the prudent and rational use of natural resources is one of the objectives of the environmental policy,

We shouldn't waste water because it's written in the EU Treaties.

RECALLING that water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage which must be protected, defended and treated as such, as stated in the Preamble of Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000,

The EU is not as pro-market as some are accusing us to be and so we kind of exempt water from the general competition thinking.

RECALLING that for that purpose several pieces of legislation have been published regarding river basin management, drinking water quality and efficient water use,

Water is so important, we've even made laws on the EU-level for it.

NOTING that in the programming period of 2000-2006 well over 100 projects in the field of water supply aiming at improving the management of water resources were financed by the European Regional Development Fund and by the Cohesion Fund,

We can count up to 100.

WELCOMES the special report No. 9/2010 of the European Court of Auditors on the effectiveness of cohesion policy resources spent on infrastructure development concerning water supply for domestic consumption and TAKES GOOD NOTE of its conclusions and recommendations as well as the reply of the European Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the Commission'),

It's really nice that the Auditors have spent some time on looking into water-related projects. It's even better that the result is more or less concrete.

WELCOMES in particular the emphasis put onto examining the definition, quantification, achievement and monitoring of objectives, thus enhancing the result and performance oriented approach of cohesion policy,

As said above, finally the Court of Auditors did some understandable, fact-based analysis, not the diplomatic blabla we are usually producing.

WELCOMES the European Court of Auditors’ conclusion according to which the structural measures’ spending has contributed to improving the supply of water for domestic use and measurable improvements have been achieved in terms of increased available volume of water, extended coverage of public networks, better water quality as well as higher network yield and service continuity, NOTES, however, the Court's finding that better results could have been achieved at a lower cost to the EU budget,

Look, the Court may have criticised us member states for wasting quite a lot of money, but at least there were some results.

NOTES that the obligations set by Directive 2000/60/EC are to be met by the Member States in a progressive way, notably the cost recovery principle, taking into account affordability and sustainability issues as appropriate.

We would like to criticise some of the countries for not taking into account value-for-money, but instead we just point very generally to that principle so that nobody notices.

NOTES also that the Report reflects the situation in the programming period of 2000-2006 and that the legislative environment has been developed in the present programming period, the main findings of the Court have already been taken into account when defining the project selection and implementation rules for the period of 2007-2013,

And even if the Court is right with its criticism, we knew that already and have dealt with all the problems. Everything will be fine. We think.

RECALLS the amendments of the present legislative framework with regard to major projects and revenue generating projects to ease the implementation of those in the 2007-2013 programming period,

Did you hear that: Everything will be FINE!!!!

WELCOMES the fact that the Commission provides technical assistance to Member States when preparing to submit major projects to the Commission through the Jaspers facility, and CALLS the Commission to better take into account the results of Jaspers’ work and thus accelerate and simplify the approval process of major projects,

Hehe, now we can show how smart we are, because we know what Jaspers is, and you (stupid citizens), you don't.

NOTES that the complex nature of such projects may involve cost and time overruns and AGREES that efforts are required to reduce the incidence of these overruns whilst assuring that such complex infrastructural projects are brought to successful operation,

Listen again: We know that wasting money is not good, and we would like to waste less, but it's so damn difficult with all these huge projects we are dealing with, that you really can't expect that we make much progress!

CALLS the Commission to simplify the setting of grant rates in order to better monitor financing gaps in such projects,

In the end, it's the fault of the European Commission anyway. This bureaucratic monster with all it's stupid regulations. Damn you, European Commission!

CALLS the Member States to continue to endeavour to prepare better and more efficient projects by thorough analyses taking into account the future trends on the demand side and the need for complementary infrastructure as well as by taking into consideration the alternative solutions,

Yes, we are actually able to read the Court of Auditors' report and we are happy to repeat what it has proposed. We are good, aren't we?!

UNDERLINES that the necessary financial corrections have been made both by the Commission and the Member States in case of public procedure weaknesses thereby defending the financial interests of the European Union,

And yet again: All this criticism on us wasting money on EU funds is so outdated - we've got that settled a long time ago already.

RECOMMENDS the Member States to further improve their project preparation, grant setting and correct implementation thereof taking account of the Commission’s guidelines,

But we don't want to right even when we are not, so yes, we'll pay attention in the future. (But we would have done that without all that useless criticism anyway!)

ENCOURAGES the Commission to continue supporting Member States in their efforts to improve the management and quality of water supply for domestic consumption namely when preparing the relevant pieces of legislation as regards the post-2007-2013 programming period, in particular through proposals to simplify the setting of grant rates,

EU Commission, continue to give us money, and please: Make it as easy as possible!

ENCOURAGES the Member States, where appropriate, to continue implementing water supply projects financed by the European Union or by their own resources in order to ensure a sustainable development of this precious natural resource.

Hey, and for those member states who have money: Don't forget that you can actually pay this kind of stuff on your own!

ENCOURAGES the European Court of Auditors to continue to examine programmes financed under the European cohesion policy and assist the implementation by its recommendations.

Thanks again, Court of Auditors! You did a great job, and we are looking forward to your next report for which we will again draft a totally meaningless response.

Until soon!

Your EU Council