WATER POLICY IN GREECE: MANAGEMENT AND PRICING UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC

This paper is related to Greece's water policy as it was formulated after the incorporation of Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60. We examined the status and evolution of constitutional provisions for the protection and management of water resources spanning from the first Greek Constitution of 1843 up to the current constitutional text of 1975 as formulated in 2008 with the incorporation of its third revision. In parallel, we investigated the Greek water pricing legal framework in accordance with Article 9 "Recovery of costs for water services" of the WFD. We compared the actual rates of water services as set by Municipal Water Supply Sewerage Companies (DEYAs) operating in 11 cities across Greece. The findings reveal that there are considerable problems and delays in the implementation of WFD. Regarding municipal water pricing policies, we concluded that DEYAs do not follow a unified and structured pricing scheme. Furthermore, several companies do not discriminate between data costs either per service (water supply, sewerage) or per use (water supply, irrigation, etc.). Finally, it is evident that none of them has yet adopted the relevant provisions set by the European directive for full cost recovery and water pricing reflecting financial, environmental and water resources costs.