The Vjosa River Basin, located in the heart of the Balkans, is one of Europe's last free-flowing wild rivers comprising a large number of pristine habitat types with a wealth of biodiversity. Widespread degradation of the forest ecosystem and unsustainable land use due to logging and livestock...

Slovakia has a centralised approach to water management, with one competent authority, the Ministry of Environment, taking charge of all aspects of WFD implementation. In addition, the Office for Regulation of Network Industries (ÚRSO) regulates both drinking water and sanitation tariffs as...

Poland has several layers of water governance, including Ministries, health authorities and authorities for water management and maritime affairs at the national level; voivodeships (provinces) as the competent authorities at the regional level for enforcement of regulation and implementation of...

Each of Austria's three RBDs: the Danube, the Rhine, and the Elbe is part of three international RBDs. An international agreement, permanent co-operation body, and international RBMP are in place in all three RBDs, but only the Danube and the Rhine iRBMPs (international RBMPs) can be easily...

At the time of this assessment, Belgium had submitted pdf RBMPs for all of its eight RBDs. Electronic reporting was only partially complete (only covering the 2 Flemish RBDs, the Brussels Region RBD for the Scheldt and the Noordzee RBD). The Flanders Region merged the RBMPs for Scheldt and Meuse...

Estonia has multiple authorities in charge of the different aspects of the RBMPs, most of them at national levels. The number of competent authorities identified has risen from three to nine since the 2nd RBMPs. All Estonian RBMPs include the objectives of the Floods Directive and the Marine...

Germany has a two-level approach to the governance of the implementation of the WFD: RBMPs at the (national) RBD level and international RBMPs. Some of the RBMPs have subplans. Specific sub-plans can be designed for specific water bodies, e.g. highly polluted water bodies, specific topics, or...

Sweden is divided into five governing RBDs, which together cover 10 river basin districts (RBDs). Sweden's water management acts through central, regional and local authorities. The Flood Risk Management Plans developed by the county administrative boards are coordinated with the PoMs and RBMPs,...

The Netherlands has a decentralised water governance approach to develop and implement water policy at different governmental levels. All four river basin districts (RBDs) in the Netherlands are covered by international agreements. A permanent cooperation body and an international river basin...