EC urges Poland to take action to restore Odra ecosystem

The European Commission has opened formal proceedings against Poland, calling on the government to take urgent measures to restore the Oder River ecosystem after the 2022 disaster. According to the European Commission, our country has failed to meet its obligations to improve water levels and protect habitats, and post-disaster measures have been deemed insufficient.

Call for remedy

In the call, the European Commission stresses that the condition of water bodies, habitats and species in Poland is deteriorating, as exemplified by the toxic water bloom in the Oder River in the summer of 2022, which caused massive fish deaths. It also reminded that this river is a key waterway in Central Europe and enables a wide range of ecosystem services, such as fishing, drinking water, recreation, tourism, and that restoring and protecting the water cycle is one of the key goals of the water resilience strategy.

The letter of formal notice specifically refers to Poland’s failure to comply with its obligations under the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC), the Industrial Emissions Directive (Directive 2010/75/EU), and the Habitats (Directive 92/43/EEC) and Birds (Directive 2009/147/EC) Directives.

In a letter of formal notice, the European Commission gave Poland two months to take appropriate action. Failure to respond could result in a referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union, which has the power to impose heavy financial penalties on Poland.

Oder River ecosystem under threat

The European Commission, in preparing the letter of formal notice, took into account that the events of August 2022 were caused by so-called golden algae. There have been massive die-offs of fish, mollusks and crustaceans on the Oder River, and details can be found in a previous Water Matters article: What Happened to the Fish in the Oder River? As a result of the heavy bloom of golden algae, aquatic organisms along a stretch of 500 kilometers died, including more than 360 tons of fish. The main causes of the intense water bloom are high salinity and high nutrient concentrations. The European Commission stresses that in the summer of 2024, more than 100 tons of dead fish were again found in the Oder River basin , as golden algae continued to occur in the area and the salinity of the water remained high.

What allegations does the EC make?

The European Commission stresses that Poland allowed saltwater discharges into the river, despite knowledge of the negative impact of such activities on ecosystems. At the same time, in the EC’s view, the interventions taken were insufficient to reverse the harmful process and ensure that their good status was achieved. Poland also failed to take the necessary measures to ensure the restoration of protected habitats and species found along the river, such as the bitterling and the common goat. In addition, it adopted a river basin management plan without taking into account the summer 2022 natural disaster and its consequences. In doing so, it also failed to meet the requirements to conduct an adequate assessment of the plan’s impact on Natura 2000 sites, which would be based on up-to-date data.

Law on recognition of Odra as an entity with legal personality

One of the latest proposals for measures to protect the Oder River ‘s ecosystem is a bill to recognize the river’s legal personality (Print No. 2082). The bill calls for the establishment of a body to represent the river, enabling more effective protection of its ecosystem. Such a body would represent the Oder River in administrative proceedings, especially those related to water permits, such as infrastructure construction, water abstraction and sewage disposal. Decisions would be made solely with the interests of the river’s environment in mind. Substantive support would be provided by a scientific committee, and day-to-day operations would be carried out by a board with its own budget, derived, among other things, from environmental fees.

On March 25, 2026, the first reading of the bill on the recognition of the legal personality of the Oder River (print No. 2082, autoport print No. 2082-A) was held in the Polish Parliament, and on March 27 a vote was held to reject the bill in the first reading, with 195 votes in favor, 210 against and 28 abstentions. The bill was referred to the Committee on Maritime Affairs and Inland Navigation and the Committee on Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry for further work.