The Water regulators of the 22 participating Member States, consider that the need for investment in the water sector have to be adopted at the state level
15th General Assembly meeting of the European Water Regulators Network /WAREG/ started in Sofia and 47 members and experts of water regulators from 22 countries attended the meeting. EWRC, which is among the Network founding members, was a host of a two-day forum. Guests of the event were Regional Development and Public Works Deputy Minister Malina Krumova and Ministry of Environment and Water representatives. EWRC Chairman Assoc. Prof. Ivan Ivanov, ЕWRC member and WAREG Vice-President Dimitar Kochkov, EWRC members Penka Trendafilova and Remzi Osman and Water Supply and Sewerage Services General Division Director - Ivaylo Kastchiev attended the meetings and discussions on behalf of the Bulgarian regulator.
In his address to the participants, EWRC chairman Assoc. Prof. Ivan Ivanov stressed the importance of such forums to form a single regulatory policy to the countries with similar problems in the water sector. "Building the necessary infrastructure in the water sector in Europe is a key issue for the national regulators and one of the important tasks of the meeting is to outline the key strategies and timeframes to find sustainable and workable solutions. I believe, that in the course of discussions with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, World Bank, European Investment Bank and the European Center of Employers and Enterprises of the European Commission representatives
the main problems faced by the sector and the measures to address them will be highlighted" said EWRC Chairman. He noted that as one of the WAREG founding members, Bulgaria welcomed the 2017 decision e 2017 decision to transform the organization into a Water Regulators' Association in Europe, as this not only increases the authority of the organization but also provides greater opportunities for enlargement its influence and fruitful work on various projects.
EWRC Chairman pointed out that the year 2017 was the second year of the profound changes in the water sector in Bulgaria and in this regard the exchange of regulatory practices helped to formulate successful solutions in the area of regulatory policy. He pointed out that to solve all open issues EWRC worked closely with Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, professional organizations, water and sewerage operators and consumer and civil organizations.
In his speech, WAREG President Alberto Biancardi stressed that the water sector in European-level is facing serious challenges and the organization is called to respond with adequate solutions based on common positions of member states. According to him, it is necessary the investments in the water sector to gain support at the state level because it ensures sustainability and efficiency of the sector.
He told media representatives that one of the organization's main functions is to be a mediator in the dialogue with state institutions and to provide technical support to national regulators. He informs that the European Commission is working on adopting a specific methodology, which aims to determine the prices of water services according to the income of the population. It was pointed out that in Europe there are both countries with higher prices for WSS services as well as countries with lower prices, and in this respect one of WAREG's objectives is in a Europe-wide perspective, to reach an affordable price level. Antonio Biancardi praised the work of Bulgarian regulator and said the water sector in the country is developing dynamically and in the last two years have introduced the new service quality assessment methodologies. He expressed his gratitude to EWRC for the overall event organization and stressed that the excellent conditions provided helped the beneficial work of all participants.
Currently members of the European Water Regulators Network (WAREG), which since 2017 has already been the Association of Water Regulators in Europe, are regulators from 24 countries and 5 countries have observer status. The organization was established in April 2014 with a primary mission to be a platform for cooperation between water regulators in Europe. A similar structure - the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), brings together national regulators in the energy sector of the continent. Over the last three years, EWRC members and experts regularly participated in WAREG General Assembly meetings held four times a year in different member states. Active Bulgarian regulator’s international cooperation of the Bulgarian contributes to its expert capacity increase and enables participation in the common regulatory policies elaboration discussions. An acknowledgment of the increased authority of the Bulgarian regulator was the election of EWRC member Dimitar Kochkov as one of the four vice-presidents. His nomination was backed by a vote by the participants in the 13th WAREG General Assembly in Riga held in October 2017.
