Initiative for water resilience

Over the course of 2023, the EESC delivered a set of own-initiative opinions on a future EU Blue Deal, calling for a new water strategy for Europe. In September 2023, the initiative gained political momentum with a joint call by the EESC and the European Parliament, expressed in a co-signed letter to EU Heads of State and Government, calling on the Member States to support and adopt an ambitious EU Blue Deal. Furthermore, in September 2023, EESC President Oliver Röpke wrote to EC President Ursula von der Leyen and called on her to place water as a high priority on the European Commission's agenda. This was followed by the inclusion of an initiative on water resilience in EC President von der Leyen's letter of intent for 2024. The Commission will unveil the Water Resilience Initiative by mid-march 2024 and CCMI will be leading the works in the EESC.

This opinion will build on the EESC call for an EU Blue Deal presented back in October 2023. As part of the Call for an EU Blue Deal, the President's Declaration recaps the 15 principles and 21 actions defining the EESC call. It underlines the need for a more comprehensive and strategic approach to water in the EU. This new vision calls for coherent action to tackle water challenges, with the aim of securing access to drinking water and sanitation, protecting ecosystems, wetlands and biodiversity, reducing our water footprint (in agriculture, industry and household consumption), updating water infrastructures, as well as establishing the necessary investments to face the important water-related challenges ahead. Since the launch of the call, the EESC has insisted on decision makers to address water as a strategic priority for the EU, on a par with the European Green Deal. The first principle of the Declaration states that all EU policies must be aligned with the new water policy. In that sense, the CCMI opinion on the Commission Initiative for Water Resilience, is a concrete follow-up of the EESC call for an EU Blue Deal.