Water Governance in the Danube River Basin and the Water Framework Directive (WFD)

This thesis examines the evolution of water governance in the Danube River Basin with a particular focus on the role of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The question of how water governance has transformed from fragmented efforts into more institutionalized ones with the WFD shapes this thesis. Initial cooperation efforts between the Danube River Basin countries paved the way for the WFD. The first international efforts started with the Bucharest Declaration in 1985. Until the introduction of the WFD in 2000, several international meetings and declarations followed the Bucharest Declaration. For example, the 1991 Environmental Programme for the Danube River Basin (EPDRB) and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) are examples of major international water governance efforts in the region before the WFD. While there was international cooperation during the 1980s and 1990s between river basin countries, these efforts could not achieve to create standardization for the water governance in the region. This thesis focuses on the evolutionary impact of the WFD on the Danube River Basin water governance. While initial efforts were fragmented, the WFD played a crucial role in establishing multi-level water governance in the Danube River Basin.