Water has been designated a strategic priority in the European Union's 2024-2029 mandate.
A Commissioner for Water Resilience has been appointed.
The European Commission is set to adopt a holistic Water Resilience Strategy before summer 2025, incorporating key recommendations from the CoR opinion, including multilevel governance aspects.
• On the call for a holistic European Water Strategy, the Commission is fully aligned with the CoR’s demand for an overarching “One Water” vision. In her July 2024 political guidelines, President-elect von der Leyen pledged to deliver a European Water Resilience Strategy by summer 2025, explicitly echoing the Committee’s call. Her roadmap stresses multilevel governance and commits to mainstreaming water into Ecodesign, industrial symbiosis schemes, circular economy measures, and all sectoral strategies. By linking water policy to Europe’s green transition and global competitiveness, the Commission has elevated water to a genuine political priority. Yet, despite this cross-policy ambition, the initiative currently lacks a single political steward, there is no dedicated Commissioner for Water, as the CoR recommended.
• On the Water-Efficiency principle and plan for major consumers While broadly supportive, the Commission stops short of the CoR’s ambition for a binding “water-efficiency principle” coupled with an actionable plan for the EU’s largest consumers (agriculture, industry, and buildings). It has tightened leak-reduction requirements in the Drinking Water Directive, set water-use benchmarks in the Industrial Emissions Directive, and signaled future water footprint rules under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. However, these measures remain guidelines rather than an integrated principle enshrined in law or a dedicated, sector-wide roadmap as presented by CoR.
• On support for Water-Smart Agriculture in the CAP the Commission’s approach mirrors the CoR’s priorities: CAP eco-schemes now reward Water Framework Directive compliance, Recovery & Resilience funding has modernized drip-irrigation systems, and the Water Reuse Regulation unlocks treated wastewater for agricultural use. The one missing element is an EU-mandated evapotranspiration-based advisory service, which remains under development.
• On the Polluter-Pays Principle and pollution at source, the Commission aligns with this position and has illustrated their clear movement on source control: a Europe-wide “fitness check” on polluter-pays is underway to expose cost-recovery gaps, and the revised Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive introduces Extended Producer Responsibility for micropollutant removal.
• On the Water-Soil Nexus and Spatial Planning the Commission acknowledges that healthy soils underpin water retention and flood resilience, the Commission has tabled a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive and funded Horizon Europe Missions to tackle salinization, brine management, and ecosystem restoration. These initiatives embed the CoR’s nexus approach into research and innovation.
• On Increased Funding for LRAs and Infrastructure, the CoR envisioned a streamlined, LRA-friendly funding pipeline. In response, the Commission has acknowledged a €25 billion/year investment gap and mobilized roughly €13 billion from Cohesion Policy (2021–2027) alongside €12 billion in national Recovery & Resilience funds. It has also bolstered technical assistance through JASPERS and Communities of Practice.
• On Digitalisation of the Water Sector the Alignment between the Commission and the CoR vision is strong. The Commission champions AI-powered leak detection, digital twins (e.g. Destination Earth), capillary sensor networks and real-time water-quality monitoring, backed by Digital Europe and Cohesion funds. A forthcoming EU Water Data Space under the Data Governance Act will further open and integrate data. Nonetheless, firm timelines for its launch and binding Member-State commitments on interoperability and data sharing are still being negotiated, risking a patchwork rollout.
• On Inclusive Governance and the ‘One Water’ Approach, the Water Framework Directive already mandates broad stakeholder consultations; the co-chaired Zero Pollution Platform and European Climate Pact engage citizens at the EU level; and transboundary river commissions receive explicit Commission support. Still, the CoR’s innovative concept of permanent “living labs”, multi-stakeholder hubs where LRAs, industry, planners, and communities co-design region-specific solutions, has not been mentioned in the follow-up.
• On Guaranteeing Access, Affordability, and Water as a Human Right the Commission didn't express explicitly, although the Drinking Water Directive and Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive recast enshrine the right to water and sanitation, the Commission has offered no EU-level instrument to finance water-poverty schemes, cap household bills or ban trading of water rights on financial markets as suggested by CoR opinion. Its guidance on social tariffs is non-binding, leaving the most vulnerable at risk of unaffordable bills and undermining the CoR’s ambition of equitable access for all.
• On Sectoral Standards and Risk Preparedness, the CoR’s proposed annual risk-preparedness drills among water, energy, gas, and heat providers have not been mentioned and remain aspirational.
• On the point on Outdated Directives the CoR called for revisions to legacy directives on nitrates, bathing water and marine strategy. The Commission has not committed to updating these key instruments.
