Drying up

Water scarcity and drought will be on the agenda when EU environment ministers meet in Lisbon for an informal council meeting on Friday.

The worst heatwave since 2003 caused hundreds of deaths this summer, triggered of a wave of forest fires and put the region's infrastructure -- especially water -- under massive strain. Following an EU green paper from June on adapting to climate change, ministers are likely to call for better pricing and other measures to control water use, especially in Southern Europe's wasteful agricultural sector. These could be worked into existing legislation and enter into force by 2009. Doubters could be bought off by extending the EU's Solidarity Fund -- money earmarked for recovery from natural disasters and terrorist attacks -- to cover longer-term crises such as droughts.