Turning the tide — A multi-stakeholder dialogue towards a water resilient Europe

📆 Tuesday 14th April 2026, 11:30 – 13:00 CEST

📍Organised at the European Parliament, Brussels (Room A3F383)

Hosted by MEP Dimitris Tsiodras, Co-Chair of the MEP Group on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development’

Water sustains our daily lives, our economy, and our food systems, rendering it essential to Europe’s environmental, social, and economic resilience, while water services are essential to maintain vital societal functions. Yet today, Europe’s water supply is increasingly at risk, due to rising pressures from climate change, pollution, overuse, and ecosystem degradation. Ensuring resilient water services means ensuring resilient societies.

To respond to this growing challenge, the European Commission has launched a Water Resilience Strategy in 2025, a forward-looking framework to improve water management across Europe, strengthen preparedness, and drive innovation and competitiveness in water-dependent sectors. The Strategy identifies an annual funding gap of €23 billion, mainly to achieve compliance with EU drinking water and wastewater rules. This figure does, however, not include measures to adapt to climate change and increased security risks.

The ongoing revision of the EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) presents an opportunity to integrate water resilience into EU funding instruments and improve the absorption capacity of water operators. Ensuring adequate and strategic financing for water-related measures is crucial for the successful implementation of the Strategy. This event aims to continue this discussion, collect political and stakeholder reactions to the MFF proposal, explore how water resilience can be effectively integrated into the revised MFF, emphasise the cross-sectoral nature of water challenges and the need for integrated governance and investment approaches, as well as promote dialogue between EU institutions, member states, scientists, civil society, and the water sector.