European Economic
and Social Committee
EESC PLENARY: EESC reinforces call for water resilience with new recommendations
Water must be treated as a strategic priority for Europe, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) stressed during its plenary session on 18 September, where three new opinions on water policy were discussed and adopted. The debate brought together high-level EU and UN representatives and highlighted the Committee’s ongoing commitment to the EU Blue Deal, which it has championed for nearly four years.
EESC Vice-President for Communication (2020-2025) Laurenţiu Plosceanu opened the debate by pointing out the Committee’s pioneering role in placing water at the centre of EU policy. The Blue Deal has been one of the most consequential initiatives from our Committee. Civil society, businesses, citizens and social partners are ready to work together to ensure water resilience now, and in the years to come,
he said.
Two years after the EESC’s Declaration for an EU Blue Deal, progress has been made: the EU now has a Commissioner dedicated to water and the Commission’s Water Resilience Strategy addresses many of the Committee’s core demands. Yet challenges remain. The Committee emphasised the need for comprehensive, cross-sectoral policy integration, and regretted the absence of consistent references to water in initiatives such as the Clean Industrial Deal. A key new recommendation of the EESC is to introduce a water test for new and revised EU legislation to ensure that European actions across sectors take into account the water dimension.
Several members of the EESC’s Civil Society Organisations’ Group also took the floor during the plenary debate:
Alain Coheur, CCMI President since 22 October, said that water resilience was becoming more and more prevalent in the EU agenda and Europe was changing the way it manages water. This initiative is a significant step in the right direction, but to better manage this issue, we need to work together and build momentum as an institution and as one Europe. We need to focus on three points: access to drinking water, limiting water leakage and ensuring efficient use of water.
Marc Decoster stated that there was still a lot to be done. It is time we dealt with the geopolitics of water. Water is used as a waste bin and sometimes we have infections and sickness as a result. There are solutions and it is time we established priorities when it comes to water supply: human, animals, then plants.
Zsolt Kükedi, who was a member of the Group during the EESC's term 2020-2025, stressed that water is a common good, a right for all, a duty to protect. 40% of Europe’s population is affected by water scarcity, yet water is barely present in EU policies. This is not just a mistake – it is irresponsibility. Water can teach us again what the EU often forgets: only together, across borders, can we survive.
Ioannis Vardakastanis, former president of the EESC's ECO Section and member of the Civil Society Organisations’ Group, was one of the rapporteurs for the opinion Blue Diplomacy and water cooperation – solutions to relieve the pressure of climate induced migration that was adopted in the context of the plenary debate.
Read the EESC’s press release: https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/news-media/news/eesc-reinforces-call-water-resilience-set-strong-new-recommendations
Watch the debate at: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/streaming/?event=20250918-0900-SPECIAL-OTHER
Article co-authored with EESC press service