Assessment of the third river basin management plans under water framework directives : France

France has a Basin Committee and Coordinating Prefect on each of its RBDs, with the exception of the RBD pair for Scheldt (FRA) and Sambre (FRB2) and the RBD pair for Meuse (FRB1) and Rhine (FRC). At the local level, a significant reform was conducted between 2014 and 2018 to streamline the responsibilities and ensure a better integration of floods and aquatic environment management, creating a new mandatory competence for the intermunicipal level. France is part of three international agreements, permanent cooperation bodies and international RBMPs on the Scheldt, Meuse and Rhine international RBD (IRBD) (designated as category 1 cooperation). On the rivers Rhone and Roia, France has bilateral agreements and permanent cooperation bodies with Switzerland and Italy (designated as category 2 cooperation). On the river Garonne, Maroni and Ebro only a bilateral agreement is in force (designated as category 3 cooperation). All French RBMPs include objectives from the Floods Directive (FD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The timetable, work programme, consultation plan, overview of the significant water management issues and draft RBMPs were made available for public consultation for the requisite six months on all RBDs assessed, except for Mayotte (FRM), where only the draft RBMP was presented for consultation.